Twins reliever Justin Topa exits spring outing because of right shoulder tightness

FORT MYERS, FLA. – One pitch after Justin Topa surrendered a home run to Baltimore Orioles infielder Emmanuel Rivera on Wednesday, catcher Christian Vázquez signaled for a trainer to check on Topa’s arm.

Topa exited his spring training outing after seven pitches because of right shoulder tightness, manager Rocco Baldelli said. He will be evaluated further Thursday.

Limited to three relief appearances last year because of a knee injury and arm fatigue, Topa’s last pitch was a 79.1-mph sweeper, which was a 2.1-mph decrease from the first sweeper he threw during the inning.

“We’re not going to jump to any conclusions,” Baldelli said. “We’ll see how he is [Thursday]. It doesn’t appear to be anything overly serious the way he’s describing it and talking about it, but he did feel something that he didn’t like.”

Topa, who will turn 34 on Friday, faced two hitters before he left the mound. He induced a flyout against Ramon Laureano before Rivera’s 418-foot homer to center.

Royce Lewis and Ty France both produced two hits and an RBI during Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the Orioles at Hammond Stadium.

Brock Stewart made his first appearance in the Grapefruit League this spring, permitting one hit, one run and one walk in two-thirds of an inning. Stewart, who plans to be ready for Opening Day, underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery last August. His fastball topped out at 97.5 mph.

“Brock was the highlight of the day,” Baldelli said. “The stuff looked like vintage Brock Stewart. I think he was pumped to be back out there on the mound.”

Pablo López yielded two runs on three hits and two walks across 3⅔ innings while striking out four.

It’s not often Olaf, a snowman in the “Frozen” movies, shows up in a major league clubhouse, but Yunior Severino donned the costume as part of a winning performance in the team’s talent show Wednesday. Players with less than a year of service time competed for the cash prize in small groups.

Vázquez, the veteran catcher, procured costumes for Severino, Emmanuel Rodriguez (Prince Hans costume), Jeferson Morales, Diego Cartaya (Princess Elsa) and Eiberson Castellano as the group danced to a song from the movie.

“We organized well,” Severino said in Spanish.

Cartaya added: “Actually, I never heard the song before. I played it this morning and was like, ‘OK, this is what we’re going to do.' It was fun. We worked hard.”

The Twins carried a $132.5 million payroll during the 2024 season, according to finalized figures from the Commissioner’s Office, which were published by the Associated Press.

It was the 19th-highest payroll in the majors last year and a $34.4 million cut from the previous season when the Twins won an American League Central title and won their first postseason series in 21 years. San Diego and the Los Angeles Angels were the only teams that had a larger payroll reduction than the Twins from 2023 to 2024.

The Chicago White Sox, who lost a record 121 games, had the highest payroll in the division last year at $154 million. The Twins had a larger payroll than the three AL Central playoff teams: Kansas City ($122 million), Cleveland ($110 million) and Detroit ($101 million).

The New York Mets had a league-high $333 million payroll while the Athletics maintained a $66 million payroll for its final season before leaving Oakland.

* When the Twins tied Atlanta, 0-0, in Tuesday’s spring training game, it’s believed to be the second scoreless tie in Twins spring training history. They had a 0-0 game against the Chicago White Sox on March 24, 1992, but that was called after five innings because of rain.

* Jhoan Duran threw a couple of fastballs at 97 mph during Wednesday’s game, and didn’t have any of his eight fastballs top 100 mph, but he says he isn’t worried about the radar gun at this point during camp. “I focus more on my mechanics and my pitches’ movement,” he said. “I don’t need to throw really hard right now. Maybe in the [regular season] I throw harder, or maybe not.”

* Austin Martin made a couple of standout plays in left field Wednesday, in windy conditions, including a running grab to rob Jackson Holliday of an extra-base hit to open the game before Martin crashed into the wall. “We were talking about [Martin] pretty much the entire game,” Baldelli said. “He looked really good out there. Every ball that went up today, you had to attack that ball in a different way than you would normally attack it.”