Twins aren’t eager to overextend Griffin Jax in bullpen

SAN DIEGO – A day after watching his team blow two-run leads twice in the final three innings, Rocco Baldelli was still mulling what he could have done differently to better protect those leads.

“Sometimes when things don’t go your way, it can be hard to deal with. How do you deal with it? For me, I talk about it,” the Twins manager said Wednesday. “I review the decision-making process with our staff. That doesn’t mean we did anything wrong. It’s just the way the game goes sometimes.”

But Baldelli made clear that one scenario was never an option: Using Griffin Jax in two innings.

With the Twins leading 3-1 in the seventh inning Tuesday, Jax warmed up in case Bailey Ober, who had retired 13 consecutive batters, ran into any trouble. But trouble came too quickly for Jax to get ready — Jake Cronenworth hit a bloop double into shallow left field on Ober’s third pitch, and Manny Machado crushed a changeup two pitches later over the center-field fence to tie the score.

Baldelli removed Ober, even though he had thrown only 83 pitches, and summoned Jax into the 3-3 game. Jax retired the side on 10 pitches, and Baldelli was asked whether he considered leaving in the righthander, who has not given up a run in his last 11 innings dating back to July 21.

“Griffin is not going to be the answer for every inning we have to pitch for the next six weeks. And he’s going to always be everyone’s first thought,” Baldelli said. “The guy’s really good. Of course you’re going to want to see him out there. But the guy just [pitched] four times in six days.”

Jax, after all, has pitched 55⅓ innings this season, four outs fewer than Cole Sands for most among Twins relievers, and his 1.79 ERA is one of the best in the league.

“In my opinion, it would be irresponsible to even start thinking about doing things like that with the guy, who we are going to need if we are going to accomplish good things the rest of the year,” Baldelli said. “He’s never totally rested, because the guy pitches a lot.”

Willi Castro earned an All-Star berth by playing five different positions well. But he has mostly just been a shortstop in August.

Wednesday’s game was Castro’s 19th consecutive game as Carlos Correa’s fill-in, which he doesn’t mind at all.

“I play shortstop my whole life. That’s my position. I started playing other positions a few years ago, but I still feel really good at shortstop. Really comfortable,” Castro said. “So it’s been good to be over there. It’s a position I know a lot of guys cannot play. I’m always ready to move around, but right now, I’m there every day until Correa comes back.

That’s fine with Baldelli, too, especially with Brooks Lee also on the injured list.

“Willi’s handled it well. The range he gives you, and he’s got a good arm,” Baldelli said. “To actually lock in and play a good shortstop, you kind of have to get some reps over there. He’s been able to hold it down for us.”

The problem is, Baldelli has lost the easiest way to adjust his defense when he pinch-hits for a starter, so there have been several games with multiple defensive alignments.

“Yeah, sometimes the way we function and make moves during games, it gets pretty crazy,” Baldelli said. " The number of people we have moving around the field, sometimes inning to inning, it’s a busy dugout at times. Guys have to be on their toes.”

Ryan Jeffers’ three home runs on this road trip have given him 20 for the season, a total he said he’s proud of.

“It feels really good. It’s just a cool milestone, a good number, especially to do that from the catching position, which is hard,” said Jeffers, who has hit 16 homers as a catcher, three as designated hitter and one as a pinch hitter. Only three Twins catchers have ever hit more: Earl Battey with 26 in 1963, Joe Mauer with 28 (23 while catching) in his MVP season of 2009, and Mitch Garver, the record-holder with 31 (30 as a catcher) in 2019.

Anthony Prato’s single in the 10th inning drove in the winning run as the St. Paul Saints beat Scranton/Wilkes-Barre 7-6 at CHS Field to end a 10-game losing streak.