Twins closer Glen Perkins appears to be healthy again

FORT MYERS, FLA. – The Twins' shutdown closer didn't close on Saturday, nor did he shut down the Orioles. But Glen Perkins did two things that his team has been waiting for all spring: He pitched. And he survived.

"I think we can move on from the oblique [injury]," Perkins said after throwing 10 pitches, one of which left the ballpark, in his first Grapefruit League appearance, "and just focus on getting ready for the season."

Perkins, whose only action in camp so far had come against his college alma mater and a minor league team, struck out two batters, hit 93 mph with his fastball, and mixed in four sliders, three of which dived into the dirt. The other one, on a one-strike count to former Twins teammate Delmon Young, hung in the strike zone until Young launched it just short of the scoreboard in left field.

"I knew he was going to swing at the second one, that's kind of his thing. So I tried to get it in the dirt, and I just didn't," Perkins said of his one mistake. "If it was in the dirt, it was strike two. He was going to swing at it, and he wouldn't have hit it. But he was sitting on it and he got all of it."

Perkins, sidelined nearly three weeks by a strained right oblique, figures he now has plenty of time to pitch in five or six more games, which should be enough to be ready by the opener.

Twins manager Paul Molitor would like to know who will be in his bullpen by the final week of training camp, so he can use the remaining games to try out game strategy before he manages in the regular season for the first time.

That bullpen began to take shape over the weekend, with righthander Michael Tonkin sent to Class AAA Rochester on Friday and righthander Ryan Pressly joining him on Saturday.

Pressly has the stuff to be a good reliever, but he struggled with command, giving up four runs on 10 hits and three walks, with four strikeouts. He simply wasn't pitching as well as others in camp.

"They told me to work on consistency with my fastball," Pressly said. "My secondary stuff is great. When I get behind in the count, I've got to throw my off-speed stuff. I think I was trying to do a little too much."

Those two departures leave 11 relievers in camp, vying for seven bullpen spots — and if a starting pitcher winds up in the bullpen, it's six spots. Perkins owns one of those spots, and it's presumed that Brian Duensing, Tim Stauffer and Casey Fien are assured of jobs as well.

That leaves two spots open for lefthanders Aaron Thompson and Caleb Thielbar and righthanders A.J. Achter, J.R. Graham, Mark Hamburger and Stephen Pryor to battle over. Graham is a Rule 5 pick who has to remain on the major league roster or be offered back to the Braves organization.

"I like the fact that we are not going to be forced to give somebody a job," Molitor said. "We have had enough people pitch well where we can select the best guy, rather than, 'Hey, we've got nobody else.' "

The Twins face a long drive across Florida on Sunday morning to Jupiter, where they will play the Miami Marlins. Phil Hughes starts for the Twins against Jarred Cosart, and Chaska High School product Brad Hand is scheduled to pitch as well.

PHIL MILLER and La VELLE E. NEAL III