PHOENIX – Tyler Duffey enjoyed his stay in Phoenix this weekend. Feel free to make your own rising-from-the-ashes metaphor.

OK, it's a little early for that, but the Twins righthander said the 11 batters he faced at Chase Field, 10 of whom were easily retired, give him confidence that his problems are fixable.

"Things seem to be going in the right direction," Duffey said after pitching the final 2 ⅓ innings of the Twins' 7-1 loss on Sunday. "After you work your butt off to get really good, sometimes we hate admitting that we have to change."

Perhaps, but a 6.55 ERA, or blowing three out of four save chances, or giving up home runs in three consecutive appearances — well, they can be convincing. Working with pitching coach Wes Johnson and the Twins' staff of pitching analysts, Duffey developed a variety of potential changes, new grips, different pitching sequences.

And newest of all: adding a changeup. Which actually is something old.

"I kind of phased it out over the years," Duffey said. "When you're going well, you don't really worry about it. But it was out of necessity, ultimately. Giving up games, or even just giving up more runs when you're losing, it's not something you want to do."

Duffey threw four changeups among his 25 pitches Sunday, and he was happy with their movement. "If I'm getting popups from lefties on changeups, I can live with that," he said. So can the Twins.

"His stuff today was as good as we've seen it. He was up into the mid-90s with his fastball, he threw strikes, the breaking ball seemed like it was a little harder," said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, who has not used Duffey with a lead since June 5. "He's not just out there trying to use the same old techniques that he's used. He's going out there, trying to grow a little bit, figure some things out, and he's doing that."

Megill lands on IL

The Twins complied with the new MLB rule limiting rosters to just 13 pitchers on Sunday, but it took an injury to do it. Trevor Megill, whose velocity dipped in his last outing, was placed on the 15-day injured list because of an impingement in his right shoulder.

"He's been dealing with this for a little while. He felt it in Seattle, some legitimate soreness," Baldelli said. "He wasn't going to be able to pitch for a few days, and we just figured we would make this move."

Outfielder Kyle Garlick, who has missed two weeks because of a minor strain of his left hamstring, was activated after three rehab games with the St. Paul Saints.

"He's grown a lot as a player in his time here," Baldelli said of Garlick, who specializes in hitting lefthanders. But "when you have him in the lineup against anyone, you feel that he can give you a good at-bat and do some damage."

The Twins are still deciding what to do about righthander Josh Winder, who has recovered from his shoulder injury, Baldelli said.

Etc.

  • Baldelli and some of his coaches met with Mike Bell's family during the weekend series, and the family was recognized on the Chase Field scoreboard during Sunday's game. The former Twins bench coach, who died from cancer in March 2021, worked for nearly a decade in the Diamondbacks front office and scouting department.
  • Former Twins first baseman Justin Morneau was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame on Saturday in a ceremony in St. Mary's, Ontario, that also included former Expos pitcher Pedro Martinez, former Blue Jays pitcher Duane Ward and lefthander Jeff Francis, a British Columbia native. Morneau, elected to the Twins Hall of Fame in 2020, is a native of New Westminster, B.C.