Cole De Vries remembers his first encounter with Tom Kelly a few years ago during spring training during pitcher's fielding practice.
"We were doing PFP's and Tom Kelly was on the other field and all of sudden you hear, 'Hold on! Hold on!' " De Vries said. "He comes walking over, stop everything and take about 20 minutes to explain to you [covering] first base.
"One or two guys who had no idea said, 'Who is this old guy taking all this time?' And me or someone else said, 'Ah, that's Tom Kelly. He's got two World Series rings.' So [the teammate] was like, 'O.K. I'll stop talking.' "
De Vries, from Eden Prairie and a former Gopher, knows what Kelly means to this area. So he was pleased to pitch six shutout innings on Saturday and help the Twins win 3-0 on the same night Kelly's No. 10 was retired in front of an announced crowd of 33,698.
De Vries could have pitched longer, but he caught Asdrubal Cabrera's line drive in the third with his ribs, and they began to bother him later in the game. De Vries held Cleveland to four hits and a walk while striking out two.
The Twins are looking for a few good arms for the 2013 rotation, and De Vries is making a case for himself. He has a 1.54 ERA over his past four outings, as he's displayed a knack for staying one step ahead of hitters.
On Saturday, he allowed the first two batters to reach base but struck out Cabrera and got a double play to get out of the inning. He appeared to make adjustments after that, and retired 10 consecutive batters heading into the sixth. But trainers had to check on him before that inning when his ribs began to ache more. He made it through the inning then turned the game over to the bullpen.
Glen Perkins picked up his 11th save. Ben Revere was 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and two runs scored.
