Before the season even began, Sunday was a day that the Twins had circled on the calendar as one when they might insert a starter to give the five members of the rotation a breather.
Mired in the middle of a stretch of 13 games in as many days, Bailey Ober became the beneficiary of this plan, making his season debut in Sunday’s 3-1 win over the Nationals. Ober threw 5 2/3 solid innings in his start, giving up just one first-inning run.
It came a little later than it might have otherwise — as the last man out of the rotation, Ober was always supposed to be first in line in the event that the Twins needed a spot starter. But when that situation arose on April 14 in New York, Ober had just pitched in a game for the Saints, prompting Louie Varland to get the call instead.
Having that depth — Ober and Varland with others, like Simeon Woods Richardson also at Triple-A — has helped make the Twins feel even more comfortable with their plans to give their starters a day of rest, something which they plan to do throughout the season when they feel it’s necessary.
“You want to have that confidence and you feel like you’re throwing a good major league pitcher out there to go win the game,” Baldelli said. “You’re not just out there covering innings. You’ve got to go win. You’ve got to find a way to get it done. When you have those guys that — we know what Bailey can do. Louie is a little bit less seasoned or less experienced, but he has really good stuff and has competed very well for us. Bailey, when he’s been on the mound as a major league pitcher, for a while now, he’s been very good, he’s been solid. We feel like we know what we’re getting when we send him, really both of them, out there.”
Ober did on Sunday as he has throughout his entire major league career.
While Ober’s insertion into the rotation had nothing to do with Kenta Maeda, the Twins’ rotation plans are still a bit up in the air momentarily as they wait to assess how Maeda continues to respond days after being smoked on the ankle by a comebacker earlier this week in Boston. Maeda is listed as Wednesday’s probable pitcher, in line to make his scheduled start, but though he’s listed, it isn’t a certainty that he’ll make that start.
“He has a bullpen scheduled (Monday) that also has to go, I would say, quite well for us to pitch him on Wednesday,” Baldelli said. “But he’s scheduled. He’s active. … I still want to see more progression from him before we actually send him out there on Wednesday.”
Baldelli’s 300th
The Twins celebrated Baldelli’s 300th win on Sunday after beating the Nationals, and while the manager said he doesn’t keep track of such things, he was gifted a “nice baseball and lineup card for the mantle” after the milestone victory.
“The wins are all about the players,” Baldelli said. “The players are the ones out there doing good things every day. In all 300 of the wins, they are the ones leading the way. … I told them a second ago, they keep me going and keep our staff going because of the way they care and the way they work and the way they do the job.”
Baldelli is sixth all-time on the Twins’ managerial wins list, and will pass his predecessor, Paul Molitor (305), in the coming days. As for catching Tom Kelly and his 1,140 wins?
“TK is on a level all by himself,” he said.
Briefly
Alex Kirilloff (wrist) hit two home runs on Sunday and drove in five runs while rehabbing with the Triple-A Saints. … Journeyman minor leaguer Drew Maggi, who briefly was on the Twins’ roster but did not play in a game, was called up by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.
