Twins reliever Kody Funderburk, teammates revel in first career save

CHICAGO – The Twins were celebrating loudly after Monday night’s come-from-behind extra-inning victory over the Chicago White Sox, and the noise could be heard in the hallway outside the visitors’ clubhouse, where media members waited to be allowed in. They were chanting something, but it was hard to make out.

Hey, Kody Funderburk, what was that chant we heard?

“They were chanting, ‘Fun-dy! Fun-dy!” the Twins’ reliever said with a shrug. “I did not want anybody to chant that.”

But it was a natural response after such an emotional victory, one punctuated in the 11th inning by Funderburk’s swift and effective 12-pitch outing to end the game — and earn the first major league save of his career.

“I was just doing my job when they asked me to,” Funderburk said. “Rocco came in and gave me the ball, so that was pretty cool. It was cool just to get the opportunity, and I’m grateful for it.”

Indeed, it was the lefthander’s 36th career appearance, but the first time he had pitched in a save situation. It opened with the automatic runner, Paul DeJong, on second base, but he never budged.

Funderburk retired pinch hitter Danny Mendick on a foul popup that Jose Miranda caught near the Twins’ dugout, Corey Julks on a come-backer that Funderburk fielded as Mendick retreated back to second base, and Korey Lee on a routine grounder to Miranda.

“Fundy is throwing the ball really well right now,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said when the 27-year-old rookie was recalled from St. Paul during the Twins’ last road trip. “He went through some things [in May], but he’s changed some things up. He looks a lot more like he did last year,” when Funderburk didn’t allow a run during his 11-game late-season big league debut, totaling 12 innings with 19 strikeouts.

The interesting choice Monday was to turn to Funderburk with a two-run lead, rather than allow Jhoan Duran, who needed only 13 pitches to keep the score tied in the 10th inning, to remain in the game.

That might have happened, Baldelli said, if Duran had not pitched to five batters — and needing 22 pitches — in Sunday afternoon’s victory over Houston at Target Field.

“It’s not something we’re opposed to doing with [Duran], going back-to-back,” Baldelli said. “We’ve talked about it and done it before. But [Monday], one inning was all we were likely to let him go.”

Which is fine by Funderburk, who now has another souvenir to go with his first strikeout ball in his trophy case at home.

Despite a rain-filled forecast, the Twins were told that Tuesday night’s game with the White Sox might still go on as scheduled, so the team bused to Guaranteed Rate Field and began its pregame work as usual.

But by 5 p.m., reality — and a steady rain — arrived. The game was postponed until Wednesday, when it will be made up 30 minutes after the scheduled 1:10 p.m. game ends.

Bailey Ober, Tuesday’s scheduled starter, will instead start Game 1, while Pablo López will start the second game for the Twins.

David Festa, who started two games while Chris Paddack was on the injured list, will rejoin the team from Class AAA St. Paul and be available as the designated 27th man on the roster. Festa, who has pitched in relief only nine times in his four-year professional career, will be available out of the bullpen in either game.

Wednesday’s forecast also includes some morning and early afternoon showers. Though both teams have Thursday off, the Twins are hoping the doubleheader goes off as planned in order to rest Thursday after a cross-country flight to San Francisco, where they play this weekend.

The work is a little easier, a little more joyful, Baldelli said, when a player like Brooks Lee, the Twins’ first-round pick just two summers ago, arrives in the major leagues and makes such a big impact so quickly.

“Our guys, our organization, loved Brooks from the start. Pretty much all of our guys loved him, watched him all spring,” Baldelli said of the rookie infielder, who has 11 hits and eight RBI in his first six games with the Twins. “It’s great for the entire organization when you have a guy pegged a certain way, both on and off the field, specifically his makeup and everything that goes into making him a very good player. And then he shows up and it’s all of that and more. That’s a really good feeling.”

So is working the draft, said Baldelli, who helped the Tampa Bay Rays scout players after his playing career ended.

“I love the draft. It’s actually a really fun time. You get to sit in the room for 12 straight hours for five or six days in a row. Sweat it out, the swampy meeting feeling you get, maybe you had time to shower that morning, maybe you didn’t, but you’re in the room,” Baldelli said. Even now, he said, “I bother everyone. I text them, bother them, ask them what’s going on. Throw a nugget in there that I probably shouldn’t have, but I do. It’s great.”