CLEVELAND – The Twins are training all their power-of-positive-thinking vibes toward Alexander Colome, but it's hard to say it's working so far.
Rocco Baldelli and pitching coach Wes Johnson each met with their erstwhile closer before Tuesday's game, and both insisted they were encouraged, even excited, about what they saw, especially when Colome threw a bullpen session to try some new ideas.
"Physically, he feels great. Actually, his stuff is in a pretty good spot right now," Baldelli said. "He truly does just want to get back on the mound and he wants to pitch."
But when Baldelli gave him that chance a few hours later, Colome's performance felt like a step backward.
He struck out Franmil Reyes on an outside cutter that umpire Phil Cuzzi gave him the benefit of the doubt about. But then he ricocheted a 95-mile-per-hour cutter off the bill of Josh Naylor's helmet, an impact that sounded more damaging than it turned out to be.
Colome followed up by walking three of the next four hitters he faced, forcing in a run before Baldelli removed him.
The result wasn't what Baldelli wanted, but the situation was. After absorbing three blown saves and three losses in April, after giving up two game-deciding home runs and posting a 6.75 ERA, Colome might be better served avoiding trying to protect a ninth-inning lead for a while, the manager conceded.
"We're going to see Alex continue to pitch in the types of situations like we saw today. We have to build him back up," Baldelli said after the 7-4 loss to Cleveland. "We're going to get him in some spots where there's some lower-leverage games, earlier in the game, and let him pitch. I think that's a big part of the answer there, and that's how you build back confidence."