After three consecutive saves, Brandon Kintzler eager to go again for Twins

CLEVELAND – Brandon Kintzler just wants a chance to play catch Sunday.

Kintzler's routine is to play catch a few hours before games to gauge how his arm feels.

"I can never tell until I play catch," he said. "Sometimes you wake up and feel like absolute crap and then all of a sudden you play catch and it is not that bad."

After collecting saves Thursday and Friday, Kintzler tested his arm Saturday and told the Twins coaching staff he was available again. He then went out and picked up his third save in as many days as his team beat Cleveland 4-1.

Kintzler's 10 saves are second in the American League to Boston's Craig Kimbrel, who recorded his 11th Saturday.

"He's always been a guy who can come back quickly and throw consecutive days," Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Kintzler. "You are more careful in today's game than 20 years ago. He went out this morning and did his routine and said he felt fine. And he made good pitches.

"I don't think he will pitch [Sunday]."

"They are trying to tell me I'm down," he said, "but I said, 'Can I at least play catch?' I don't know if they are going to give me the opportunity."

Ryan Pressly has given up runs in five of his 16 outings this season. While he made some adjustments to help his control, the real adjustment is regaining his confidence.

He might have had the outing that turned things around for him Thursday against the White Sox when he struck out the side in the seventh inning. That including blowing a 98 miles-per-hour fastball by Jose Abreu for strike three then using his curveball to finish off Avisail Garcia.

Pressly pumped his fist after the Garcia strikeout. Pressly still has a 8.03 ERA, which shows how much he struggled early this season and how far he has to go to get the number down to something respectable.

"The results haven't been there," Pressly said. "That's when you start thinking and trying to do too much. That's when you kind of get out of whack."

"That was the biggest thing, trying to establish confidence," he said. "That's really hard to do in this game. It will humble you real quick."

Now that Jose Berrios is up, the Twins don't have any rotation decisions to make … for a few days, at least.

Assuming no more rainouts, they will need a fifth starter Saturday against Kansas City. So the monitoring or arms at Rochester will begin. Righthander Kyle Gibson is the top candidate, with Gibson scheduled to pitch Sunday at Pawtucket opposite of Red Sox star David Price, who is making a rehabilitation start.

That would put Gibson in line to start Saturday. Adalberto Mejia is scheduled to start for Rochester on Tuesday. If he does, he would have to come back on day less rest to start Saturday, though the lefthander could emerge as an option if he has a short outing Tuesday.

Lefthander Adam Wilk, claimed off waivers from the Mets on Wednesday, could be a factor, but the Twins prefer to use him out of the bullpen. He hasn't pitched since Sunday, and Molitor said he would like to use Wilk in a game just to see what he's got.