St. Paul – Another Minnesota Twins reliever is on the verge of returning to the bullpen before the season ends.
Kody Funderburk threw his third game in a rehab stint with the St. Paul Saints on Tuesday night. He threw throwing two scoreless innings and allowed only two base runners on a single and hit batter.
“It was good,” Funderburk said after the game. “I feel like the adjustment I made helped me get more in zone. Just kind of repeating that feeling after taking some time off, I think, will only make it better. But it was a really good adjustment from what happened Saturday.”
Funderburk only recorded two outs during his last rehab stint. On Sept. 14, the Columbus Clippers tagged Funderburk for six runs off four hits and two walks. Saints manager Toby Gardenhire said the plan for his third rehab outing was to get him extended for two innings or 35 pitches, whichever came first. Fortunately for Funderburk, he got through the two frames on 33 pitches.
“He did good,” said Gardenhire. “We got him two ups. That’s what we’re asked and wanted to do was get him two ups on 35 pitches, and that’s what he did. [Funderburk] did a good job. He got through it, and he looked good.”
Despite his results in his outing Saturday, Funderburk benefitted from Columbus hitting him around. It was a good test to see how his ailing oblique would respond after a bad outing and a heavy workload after two months without action on the mound.
“It was a very stressful outing. Heavy workload, threw a lot of pitches was moving around,” said Funderburk. “So for the oblique to respond fine the next day so to recover and show that I can go through it was a really good sign. But I need to have some better results in the walks and in the command side of things. It was my second outing after having two months off, so a little patience and some adjustments, and I think we’ll be back because it’s been feeling really well.”
On Tuesday night, Saints catcher Jair Camargo caught Funderburk behind the dish. He talked with him pre-game about how they could avoid another outing like Saturday’s. While they’ve moved up through the minors at a different pace, the relationship they’ve built over the years has been a huge help for Funderburk in regaining his composure after a bad outing.
“The confidence he has with me is something as a catcher you want to take pride in,” said Camargo. “So you really want to help those guys, especially when guys follow you a lot and when they know that you prepare yourself the best you can to help them. … He knows I’m trying to do my best for him.”
Caleb Thielbar was Minnesota’s only left-handed reliever until Cole Irvin debuted with the Twins on Tuesday night. Thielbar had been the lone lefty in the pen since the Twins DFA’d Steven Okert on Aug. 24 and cleared waivers to join St. Paul.
The Twins have a shortage of lefty relievers in the pen, so they could activate him and have him ready to rejoin the team. Funderburk is eager to prove himself ready to help this team keep their postseason chances alive in the last 11 games of the regular season.
“The best ability is availability. So that means making sure I’m doing the things to recover, especially after injury and doing all of that,” Funderburk said. “The biggest thing for me, like we talked about, getting in zone, throwing strikes, that’ll probably always be the biggest thing in my career to focus on because my strength is I can make the ball move but I just have to get it in zone a little bit more.”
Funderburk is on the 60-day injured list. So whenever the Twins activate him, they will need to make a move on their 40-man roster.
