Tyler Duffey says his pitching makeover is 'going in the right direction'

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.

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.