KANSAS CITY, MO. – Attack the strike zone, get ahead in the count and make the hitters get themselves out. That's what happened Monday in Kauffman Stadium, and the result was an absolute gem.
"Hope the pitchers watched," Ron Gardenhire said.
Yes, Carroll has played a lot of positions in his career, but never before had he volunteered to be a human white flag, taking the pitchers mound for an inning to save the overworked Twins bullpen in Minnesota's most lopsided loss of the season.
One week into the Twins' 27-games-in-27-days slog through July and August, no starting pitcher has gone seven innings, and Kevin Correia just became the fifth one to last fewer than six, putting relief-corps arms at risk. So when Correia gave up six runs in his two innings, and Ryan Pressly gave up seven while recording just four outs, Carroll made an offer that Gardenhire couldn't turn down.
"I said, 'I'd be happy to save a guy. The bullpen's been throwing a lot,' '' Carroll said after his first outing on the mound in, oh, about 24 years. Since he was playing for his dad in Babe Ruth ball, he figures.
Gardenhire and pitching coach Rick Anderson "looked at me and said, 'You want to do it?' I said, 'Heck yeah, I'll be glad to help out in any way possible,' " Carroll said. "So I ran into the tunnel, threw a little bit, and next thing I knew, we're out there in the middle."
He faced three hitters, and did what Correia couldn't: Threw strikes. His "fastball" was mostly in the mid-70s — mlb.com's pitch tracker sympathetically judged them changeups — but resulted in the night's quickest inning.
"I told [catcher Chris] Herrmann I'd just throw fastballs, [and] try to throw them all away [outside] if they get there," Carroll said. "I wasn't going to do anything silly, just try to get the inning over as fast as possible."