Notes: Maeda 'fun to watch'; Cave's contribution

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Twins starter Kenta Maeda was extremely efficient in Sunday afternoon’s 7-6 loss to Boston, working four innings without surrendering a run, striking out six and walking none. It took the right-hander just 46 pitches, cruising the whole way.

“Last outing, I [threw] a lot of pitches, so I’m glad I was able to be efficient today,” Maeda said after his start. “Everything from the delivery to the pitches, everything worked in sync. It was great overall.”

Across his four innings of work, Maeda faced more than three batters just once -- in the second inning, when he mixed in a softly hit single from Mitch Moreland in-between strikeouts of Xander Bogaerts, Michael Chavis and Christian Vázquez.

Maeda said it was the best he’s felt on the mound all spring, and it showed. He smoothly worked in all of his pitches, recording strikeouts on four different selections and didn't give up a long ball, something he’s been struggling with early on in camp.

“It’s definitely the best [I’ve felt] and the fact that I did not give up a home run this time makes it even better,” Maeda said. “I’m not a pitcher who can throw a 100 [mile-per-hour] heater, so I try to use all my pitches to get strikeouts. That’s who I am as a pitcher.”

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli was impressed with what he saw from Maeda on the afternoon.

“He commanded all of his pitches exceptionally well today,” Baldelli said. “His fastball command allowed everything else to play up really well. You really got to see a tremendous version of Kenta out there and it’s fun to watch.”

The Twins newcomer also looked smooth turning a double play on a ball hit to him in the third inning -- calmly gloving the ball, turning toward second and throwing a strike to Nick Gordon, who completed the 1-4-3 play.

“I mean, I do have a lot of Golden Glove awards in Japan. But, in Japan,” Maeda joked.

The 31-year-old is a five-time Mitsui Golden Glove Award winner (2010, ’12-’15) in Japan.

Maeda stated he will be ramping up his innings pitched and pitch count when he takes his 2.08 spring ERA into his next outing, as we’re a few weeks out from the start of the regular season. He singled out his cutter as a pitch he most wants to improve on.

Baldelli envisions Cave as a contributor
Outfielder Jake Cave went 1-for-3 and drove home the first run of the game in the sixth to continue a productive spring for a player hoping to once again make the Opening Day roster.

Cave, who has appeared in 163 regular season games for the Twins over the course of the last two seasons, is hitting .300 this spring and is seeing more at-bats with Byron Buxton yet to make an appearance since recovering from a torn labrum.

Baldelli said he fully expects Cave to be a contributor to the club throughout the season, but would not speculate on if the “Caveman” would be locked in as the fourth outfielder.

“It’s really early to talk about roster discussions and things like that, but he’s put himself in a great spot,” Baldelli said. “He’s consistently got tremendous energy. He’s actually a great presence in our clubhouse, on the bench, keeps guys going. But that’s him, that’s just who he is. He’s funny, brings a smile to everyone’s face and it’s great to have those personalities on your team, in addition to the fact that he’s been a heck of a Major League player.

"He’s done a really good job. Probably doesn’t get enough credit because he’s surrounded by other really great players, but he’s put himself in a spot where he’s certainly going to help our Major League team this year.”

Cave did just that for the club last year, coming up to the Majors in five different stints to fill a need. He posted a career-best eight-game hitting streak in August of last season and spent time at each outfield position -- the majority in right and center. Over those 163 games, Cave has hit 21 homers, driven in 70 runs and has hit for a .262 average. He will surely be valuable to the club early on if Buxton cannot make it back before the start of the regular season.

A catcher with wheels?
Twins backstop Mitch Garver legged out an infield single in the fourth inning, beating out a great barehanded snag-and-throw by Rafael Devers.

It’s almost unheard of for a catcher to beat out an infield single, but in Spring Training? You’ve just got to smile or close your eyes if you’re Baldelli.

“I closed my eyes, I can’t even tell you what it even looked like,” joked Baldelli after the game. “But he came out of it OK, which was very nice.”

Up next
The Twins return home to Hammond Stadium where they meet St. Louis for a 12:05 p.m. CT start. Righty Randy Dobnak gets the start for Minnesota. This will be the 25-year-old’s third start of the spring in which he’s impressed -- tossing six innings, allowing just two hits, one earned run and striking out four. Sergio Romo, Tyler Clippard, Trevor May, Zack Littell, Cody Stashak and Dakota Chalmers are also scheduled to appear. Kwang-Hyun Kim gets the start for the Cardinals.