ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — Twins starting pitcher Randy Dobnak returned Friday at Tampa Bay after 2 ½ months away, forced the first three batters to ground out and retired the last 15 he faced consecutively.
Randy Dobnak pitches after long layoff, Michael Pineda also nears Twins return
After allowing five early runs, the starter retired 15 consecutive Tampa Bay batters in one stretch.
September 4, 2021 at 5:47AM
The second and third innings between cost the Twins a 5-3 loss, their third consecutive and fourth in five games.
Sidelined 60 games by a strained middle finger ligament that seemed small enough in late June, Dobnak's sinker and slider stuff impressed early and late against the East Division-leading Rays, who knocked him for three runs in the second inning and two more in the third. The Twins scored their only runs on solo homers, Jorge Polanco's in the first and Ryan Jeffers' in the fifth.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli noted pitches Dobnak left up high after so long away in those two innings. He threw 88 pitches — 53 strikes — before leaving after seven innings for reliever Ralph Garza Jr.
"The latter half was pretty much classic Randy Dobnak when you see him good," Baldelli said. "When you pitch down in the zone, you get some ground balls and miss some bats with that slider. That's when he's at his best."
Dobnak, 26, called himself "amped up" to pitch again, saying he initially didn't think he'd miss more than two or three weeks. He attributed those two troublesome innings to "almost leaning" and falling off to the mound's side before he corrected his mechanics.
"This is probably the first time I've had this much time off during these months of the year since I was 3 or 4," he said. "The arm's built up, the finger feels good. I just go out there and do what I do."
Plan for Pineda
While Dobnak returned, the Twins planned how to best bring back fellow starter Michael Pineda from injury.
Out three weeks because of a mild oblique strain, Pineda will throw a bullpen session Saturday before he'll tag-team with Bailey Ober in Ober's next start Monday in Cleveland.
Baldelli envisions the two will combine for six or seven innings, with Ober starting.
That will lighten Ober's load in September by cutting his pitch count and give him an extra day's rest this week. It also helps Pineda's return to the starting rotation.
"It's not something we're definitely going to be doing indefinitely," Baldelli said. "It keeps Bailey in a good spot innings-wise so we're not continually pushing him in September and that seems like the appropriate day we get Mike back in there. It just allows us to accomplish several things."
Dome-field advantage
Twins outfielders and infielders spent extra time early for Friday's game attempting to catch balls fired toward Tropicana Field's domed roof by a pitching machine at home plate. They hadn't played there since 2019.
Baldelli played center field and coached for the Rays there much of his career.
"We have some guys who have never been here," Baldelli said. "We definitely were going to have the heavy-duty, hack-attack machine out there shooting some big pop-ups, reminding our guys of some things out there. If you take your eye off the ball in this building, you're going to have a really tough time.
"It could get very challenging, very fast out there. You can win or lose ballgames because of it."
Too many?
Utility player Nick Gordon started Friday in left field again, a corner-outfield position at which the Twins also have Jake Cave, Brent Rooker or Rob Refsnyder and others. You can pencil Byron Buxton in center field and Max Kepler in right most every night.
"I'd like to see Nick play, but I'd like to see those others play, too," Baldelli said. "We have five extra players right now, several of which are full-time outfielders or part-time. When you have Buck and Kep in the lineup on a regular basis – which I'm quite pleased we do have that right now – there are less opportunities and less at-bats for everyone to get out there."
Thinking of home
Most of Baldelli's family by chance was not home in Rhode Island when remnants of Hurricane Ida flooded New York and New England this week.
"I know it has been a very difficult time for a lot of people in the Northeast and I'm thinking about everybody up there," he said. "I think everybody is. It's not a part of the country you're really prepared for something like this. There a lot of people on top of each other and I know it has been bad. I know everyone will do everything possible to help each other out, but it's a very scary, troubling time."
Etc.
Baldelli called shortstop Andrelton Simmons "OK" after he came up hurting when he dived for a ball. He was removed in the eighth inning for pinch-hitter Rooker for strategic purposes.
"He said it felt a little weird, a little awkward," Baldelli said. "But he didn't hear anything that would frighten him in any way."
Talk of competing for the best players or of a potential new owner wielding big bucks doesn’t change this: They are last in popularity among the four major men’s pro sports.
