Jax backed by early 4-spot vs. Astros

HOUSTON -- Griffin Jax has been handed an opportunity to show the Twins that his stuff can play as a starter at the big league level -- and so far, he’s taking full advantage of it.

First came a stifling of the White Sox. Next came an easy handling of the Cardinals. And even matched up against one of the best offenses in baseball -- albeit one coming off a red-eye flight from Los Angeles -- Jax added the Astros to his tally by allowing one run and three hits in a 5 1/3-inning effort that led the Twins to a 5-3 victory in the opener of a four-game series at Minute Maid Park on Thursday night.

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At this point, with two months for the Twins to intensely evaluate their young talent for 2022 and beyond, Jax knows that each start in his first consistent look at the big leagues is meaningful -- a potential audition, of sorts, for what’s to come, alongside fellow rookies like Bailey Ober and Charlie Barnes.

“I mean, it's definitely been talked about, and I understand the opportunity that's in front of me,” Jax said. “I'm excited for the opportunity, and I'm looking forward to just being able to keep working every single day and get under that schedule of a true five-day starter rotation, and work towards that and hopefully just keep helping build my confidence and my mentality every single time."

How’s this for a three-start stretch since being handed opportunities to start some games? Jax has allowed three combined earned runs and six hits across 14 1/3 frames in those appearances. And though he didn’t collect a strikeout against the Astros’ notoriously whiff-averse offense, Jax still kept Houston in the ballpark -- by narrow margins, at times -- as he pitched to contact and had batted balls find gloves behind him.

In fact, even as he collected only three swinging strikes on his 75 pitches and allowed six hard-hit balls (95 mph exit velocity or higher) among the 19 put in play against him, Jax still retired 13 Astros in a row between the first and fifth innings, with only a single and a walk blemishing his line until he was chased in the sixth by a Jason Castro homer and a Chas McCormick double.

"Just attacking every single hitter, getting ahead in the count, not giving a really good chance for myself to fall behind and have to groove a fastball to them,” Jax said of his approach. “I think if I was consistently behind against this lineup and was supposed to give them fastballs, they would jump on it. A lot of praise to the defense tonight.”

Jax said it wasn’t necessarily a plan to pitch to contact against this lineup; it’s just how things panned out as he aggressively leaned on the four-seam fastball he has worked to add movement to over the last year. Sometimes, that leads to swings and misses. This time, it didn’t -- but it worked out anyway.

“​​He has a little savvy and some feel, too,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I’m not surprised to see him kind of mixing it up and bringing some different approaches depending on who he’s facing and the types of hitters that he’s facing.”

Jax didn’t get to be a Captain in the Air Force Reserve by being intimidated, after all, and Thursday served as another example of what he’s found in this three-start stretch: His stuff, even if not overpowering, can still match up against hitters at this level -- even in the game’s elite lineups.

“I take it as a pretty big challenge every time I go out there knowing that I'm going to face the best of the best, and that just helps build my confidence and the game just becomes easier and easier for me when I get out there and understand that I can compete at this level,” Jax said. “I can do it.”

The Twins’ offense gave Jax more than enough support as the newly healthy Rob Refsnyder ignited both of Minnesota’s run-scoring rallies, including a four-run second inning in which the Twins got RBI knocks from Willians Astudillo, Trevor Larnach and Jorge Polanco. Andrelton Simmons dropped an RBI bunt single in the eighth to plate Refsnyder with an insurance run after he doubled leading off the inning.

Things got dicey in the ninth, when Yordan Alvarez crushed a two-run blast off Danny Coulombe and the tying run stepped to the plate, but Alex Colomé sealed Jax’s first career win as a starter -- and, if things continue trending this way, certainly not his last.

“It's fun to watch guys come up and get the opportunity, make the best of the season that we're having and build a lot on what's to come,” Tyler Duffey said.