Albers' long journey brings him back to Twins

NEW YORK -- When Andrew Albers took the mound at Yankee Stadium to open the fifth inning of Thursday night’s 7-5 loss, he was wearing a Twins uniform for the first time since 2016. The 35-year-old left-hander was also back on a big league mound for the first time since ’17.

Albers, a journeyman reliever who spent the period in between pitching in the Japan Pacific League and Japan Western League, was signed by Minnesota to a Minor League deal before the 2021 season. After he posted a 6-4 record with a 3.86 ERA in 16 appearances (15 starts) for Triple-A St. Paul, the Twins selected his contract and added him to their 40-man roster before Thursday’s game.

So began Albers’ third stint with Minnesota; he made his Major League debut for the Twins on Aug. 6, 2013, when he was 27. The grizzled veteran quickly rewarded their continued faith in his ability.

Albers tossed four innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen for a Twins staff that desperately needed a lift after using eight pitchers in Wednesday’s extra-innings walk-off win over Cleveland. He struck out four Yankees and gave up just two hits -- one of which was a short-porch homer by Giancarlo Stanton in the eighth.

“Enormously impressive,” said manager Rocco Baldelli after the game. “[It was] beyond needed. … You never know what you’re going to get, or what you’re going to see, and what we got was just a very efficient outing. It’s actually really nice for us to get a chance to watch him throw, too, because he’s been throwing the ball well in St. Paul.

“He kept those guys off balance. He missed some bats. He did all the things you really want to see. Didn’t even use all those pitches that we knew he was capable of throwing and did everything he possibly could to keep us in the ballgame. If not for a home run to right field to one of the shorter parts of the ballpark, you’re talking about almost a pretty flawless outing, really.”

Albers knew ahead of time that he would likely be tasked with chewing up innings for the Twins. He was stretched out enough to be available for about 100 pitches -- a full start’s complement -- if it came to that. He needed just 63 to contain the Yankees in the latter innings after they had built a six-run lead by the end of the fourth.

As important as it was for Albers to spell a taxed bullpen, it meant just as much for him to rejoin an organization that has left an imprint on his life. Years later he still remembers that he donned No. 63 on his first Twins uniform and No. 58 on his second. Now he wears No. 77.

“Obviously, any time for me that I get a chance to pitch in the big leagues, it’s exciting. It’s a thrill,” Albers said. “I have some great memories here with the Twins, and it was nice to go out and pitch for the club again and have a little bit of success. That was good from a personal standpoint, anyway. … [I was] just happy I was able to do that job and save our guys, and hopefully that will pay dividends going forward.”

Given how much movement there has been within the Twins’ staff of late -- four relievers transferred to and from St. Paul on Thursday alone -- there was a chance that Albers might be sent back down. But Baldelli dispelled that notion after that game, definitively stating, “That’s not a part of the plan right now.”

Albers’ performance in his return to the Majors no doubt contributed to Baldelli’s certainty, and the opportunity is there for the southpaw to carve out a role for himself in the Twins’ bullpen. He knows it, too.

“All I can do is prepare myself as best as I can and get myself ready to go out and perform. You let the other chips fall where they may,” Albers said. “…You hope you can pitch well enough to where, if they want to send you down or they want to get a new arm, it’s at least a tough decision. That’s all you can do.”