Trevor May grudgingly admits to continued back pain, returns to DL

Like a wanted man turning himself in at a police station, Trevor May swallowed hard, walked into Paul Molitor's office, and confessed.

My back hurts again, May told his manager. It's affecting the way I pitch again. I need to go on the disabled list again. Yes, again.

"It wasn't easy. Yesterday was a tough day, because I knew what it meant," the 26-year-old Twins righthander said. "I hate being out. Hate it, hate it."

But he learned a valuable lesson in June, when his back spasms first flared up. Pitching in pain, hoping the problem goes away, keeping quiet about his condition — none of those things help the team, or himself. His competitive instinct told him to gut it out, May said; his brain told him, honesty is the best policy.

"We're glad he came forward," Molitor said Wednesday, shortly after May was placed on the disabled list, his roster spot and bullpen spot inherited by J.T. Chargois, called up from Class AAA Rochester. "We sat down and talked for quite a while about where he's at. Obviously we affirmed that it's the right thing to make sure we took care of this thing, and not be out there trying to pitch and jeopardize your future."

That future, though, feels a lot less certain than it did in spring training, May said. This was going to be his big breakthrough season, the year he established himself as a setup man at least, and perhaps a future closer. May was confident he was pitching better than ever.

Instead, changes to his routine caused him to unconsciously lengthen his stride and put more torque on his back. As his mechanics worsened, so did the back pain, and his self-defeating solution was to throw harder, add more pressure and make matters worse.

The results show it, too: On May 10, his ERA stood at 1.89. A month later, mostly pitching with a nagging pain, that number had risen to 6.08.

"I've seen the numbers. It's hilarious because every number has improved this year except ERA," May said. "I've pitched better than it looks."

He's right, mostly; opposing hitters are batting .224 against May this season, down from .279 in 2015. His walks-plus-hits per inning is down to 1.25; last year it was 1.33. Strikeouts have risen from 8.6 per nine innings to 12.5.

In his past 10 games, a healthy May has given up two hits over 9⅔ innings, and only one run, for an 0.93 ERA. He struck out 13 batters and lowered his season ERA to 4.89.

"The flashes of who I really am are there," May said. "Everything is lining up for me — except physically."

It's possible, too, that this latest flare-up causes the Twins to rethink their decision to keep May as a reliever. He was healthy in the spring, when he had four days off between outings, and Molitor sounded willing to reconsider that assignment.