BALTIMORE – Questions dogged the Twins about their bullpen all offseason, and again all spring. On Saturday, for one day at least, the new-look group showed that it is up to the task.
Five Minnesota relievers combined to get 14 outs against a dangerous lineup in a cozy ballpark, supporting a strong but short outing from
Making his season debut after a strong spring, Bradley turned around his fortunes at Camden Yards, a park where he had previously made two extremely ill-fated starts. He struck out nine Orioles and allowed one run over 4 1/3 innings, but needed 92 pitches to get through his outing, leading to the early arrival of the relief corps.\n\nIt’s a group that has been routinely pointed to as the club’s biggest worry, at least outside the clubhouse. Minnesota traded away five top relievers at the Trade Deadline last year, then made mostly low-profile additions over the winter and spring. It was unclear before Saturday who would pitch the late innings with a lead, and it likely still is not set in stone, but some questions have been answered in the early days.
“I think we definitely know we have the talent,” said Sands, one of four holdovers from last year’s 'pen. “I think we all have that chip to be a little bit blue collar. Go out there and, like today, it was a grinder. Taj went out there and pitched his tail off, and every guy after that pitched their tail off.”\n\nIt wasn’t always easy, but they got it done.
“Orze comes in and the group he’s got to go through, and the way their lineup is so right-left based, and to be able to neutralize them, I thought, was outstanding. He’s a guy we know can use the split and we trust him against lefthanders and he showed that today.”\n\n