ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – Paul Molitor still has his gold medal from the summer he wore a Team USA jersey, and it's a great memory, he said Friday. But the medal says "Intercontinental Cup," not "Olympics," and that's a line on his résumé he still would like to add.

"When I was in player development for the better part of 10 years, I wouldn't have minded if somewhere along the line, I had gotten a call to be a coach, to be part of that experience," the Twins' manager said Friday, shortly before the 2016 Rio Olympics formally opened. "But when I was a player, the Olympics weren't really on your radar, because it wasn't an Olympic event."

Baseball was an official Olympic event for only five Olympiads, from 1992-2008, though the International Olympic Committee voted this week to restore the sport for the 2020 Games in Tokyo. Molitor was invited to play on the all-amateur national team in 1975, after his freshman season at the University of Minnesota, along with future major leaguers like Ron Hassey, Scott Sanderson and Denny Walling. and played in a tournament in Colombia and in the Intercontinental Cup in Montreal, where the Americans won the gold medal.

"You're an 18-year-old kid, and you're representing your country in international games, that's pretty fun," Molitor said. "You never forget it."

Landing comfortably

Kevin Jepsen had a handful of offers after the Twins released him on July 11, but it wasn't a tough choice, he said. He returned to the Rays, the team that traded him to Minnesota a year ago, because he knows the team, the coaching staff, the ballpark. "I knew I fit in here," Jepsen said. "And I was confident I'd turn things around."

He has, and part of the reason, Jepsen says, is the way that Rays manager Kevin Cash is using him. He's being called upon to get just one or two batters at a time, trying to work out of jams and not worry about finishing entire innings. In nine appearances with the Rays, Jepsen has totaled just five innings, and only once allowed a run. Six of his appearances have lasted just one or two batters; one of them lasted just one pitch.

"I'm doing well with guys on base — stop the damage, and then I'm done," Jepsen said. "That way I can throw more often."

He's made some mechanical adjustments, raised his arm slot, and he's found more life, he said, on his fastball than when he was pitching his way off the Twins with a 6.16 ERA. "It was a nightmarish first half, but I always finish strong," the former Twin said. "The rough start got me out of whack mechanically, but I'm feeling better now."

"I'm not surprised," Molitor said. "Things just spiraled in Minnesota, but he's got a big arm. I was optimistic about him landing somewhere and being helpful again."

Etc.

• Max Kepler said he wasn't nervous on Friday, but excited. His father, Marek Rozycki, traveled from Berlin this week with the rest of Kepler's family, and was in the crowd at Tropicana Field, watching Kepler play a major league game for the first time. He's the second Twin to experience that thrill on this road trip; catcher Juan Centeno's father, Juan Sr., was in Cleveland earlier in the week, traveling from Puerto Rico to see his son play in the big leagues for the first time.

• After a three-hour bus ride to Allentown, Pa., Trevor Plouffe went 1-for-4 with a double Friday night in his fourth rehab start at Class AAA Rochester. Plouffe will play again Saturday, and the Twins will determine whether he is ready to rejoin the major league club when they return home Monday.