Caleb Thielbar walked off the mound Wednesday without recording an out against the four Colorado Rockies batters he faced.
It was the latest rough outing this season for the 37-year-old lefthanded reliever. He has yielded an 8.04 ERA through 23 appearances, permitting 24 hits and 14 earned runs in 15⅔ innings with nine walks.
“He’s figured things out in his career many times, and he’s had to adjust many times,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “In some ways, he knows what he’s aiming at.”
Two of the three runs Thielbar allowed in the Twins’ 17-9 win were unearned after Carlos Correa committed an error on a slow ground ball. But he walked two hitters and surrendered a double to catcher Jacob Stallings on a slider in a two-strike count.
Thielbar, a Randolph, Minn., native, started the season on the injured list because of a left hamstring strain. Since he returned, he has never fully looked like he did last year when he was used as a setup man in postseason games. He has been crushed by righthanded hitters (.457 batting average, three homers), and his strikeout rate has dipped.
“He’s a guy that’s had exceptional command of his four-seam fastball and his big breaking ball that has been such an effective pitch for him,” Baldelli said. “Part of what also makes it good is those are very consistent pitches for him. He has very good feel for them.
“In the outings that haven’t gone his way … the command of those pitches wasn’t where they needed to be.”
Thielbar attempted to lean on his off-speed pitches Wednesday, but three of his first four sliders were outside the strike zone and five of his six curveballs were balls.
