Twins report: Baldelli wants bullpen to remunerate surprise relievers

Baseball fans tend to get a kick out of watching a major league position participant mop up for the bullpen when a squad is getting its clock cleaned late and it makes no sense to waste another pitching arm It s a bit of levity or morbid curiosity to take a little of the sting off a blowout loss A day after infielder Jonah Bride put in two innings in a - loss to the Athletics in West Sacramento Calif manager Rocco Baldelli disclosed he hates putting a position competitor on the mound so much that he s petitioning his bullpen to start paying for it Literally I m petitioning our bullpen to throw in a minimal bucks every time we have a position contestant pitch a little thank you and pat on the back from the boys he notified reporters before Friday night s p m first pitch against Toronto at Target Field With one out and two on in the bottom of the seventh Bride gave up a two-run double to former Twins outfielder Brent Rooker Otherwise he was pretty sharp in his two innings Bride was charged with two earned runs on four hits and a pair of walks and fanned one He then pitched a scoreless eighth He did a good job Baldelli disclosed After the first inning I demanded him if he was ready for another He started telling me all the things he was gonna do and I just stopped listening I mentioned Just keep doing what you re doing You re doing fine Baldelli explained Bride narrated him he had done it before but according to baseball-reference com it must have been in the minors Thursday was his first major league pitching performance He joins a list of Twins position players to pitch in games in recent months and includes Ehire Adrianza Michael Cuddyer Willians Astudio seven times Matt Wallner and Kyle Farmer Only a couple of sickos really want to go out there and pitch Baldelli noted The greater part of the guys that we have go out there and pitch they don t want to do it They do it to be a good member of the group But trust me it s not that at ease for those guys unless they re just a little cuckoo Correa sits Shortstop Carlos Correa wasn t in the starting lineup Friday because of continuing pain in his upper back He missed the last two games of the A s series explaining that the batter s box at Sutter Strength Ballpark was causing him to slip on swings and his back to compensate I can t really say just exactly what he s feeling Baldelli disclosed but we felt he needed at least another day to get back here get on the field and just get himself in a good spot so we re not sending him out there on the field not ready to play New arm The Twins recalled right-hander Travis Adams from Class AAA St Paul and added him to the -man functioning roster He was available to make his major league debut tonight against Toronto To make room left-hander Kody Funderburk was optioned back to St Paul In his second stint with the Twins this season Funderburk appeared in seven games allowing eight runs on hits and four walks in eight innings He struck out four Related Articles Twins starter Pablo L pez calls injury a tough pill to swallow Twins lose Pablo L pez for two to three months with injury Twins rally then fall in Seattle after Carlos Correa Rocco Baldelli ejected Twins come back to oust Mariners in one of the best wins in latest memory Carlos Correa returns after a week on concussion injured list