J.A. Happ wasn’t the only left-hander the Twins were eager to see back on the mound in Monday’s game; reliever Caleb Thielbar pitched a scoreless sixth inning while also making his spring debut in Minnesota’s 5-1 loss to Atlanta at CoolToday Park.

Thielbar missed the first two weeks of Spring Training games with a back strain sustained at the start of camp, but the club appears confident that he can reprise his role as an important part of its relief depth after the left-hander allowed only a Pablo Sandoval single and struck out Phillip Ervin out of the bullpen.

“From what we were expecting, from what we’ve already seen from him this spring -- mainly on the back fields and in the bullpens -- we think he’s going to be good, ready to go,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The stuff is playing very well in everything that we’ve seen.”

The 34-year-old was one of the club’s biggest surprise stories last season, when he arrived in camp on a Minor League deal and pitched to a 2.25 ERA out of the Twins’ bullpen following his promotion to the big leagues in August. The last time he had pitched in the Major Leagues had been in 2015, but he returned to Minnesota with added spin on his pitches, more depth on his curveball and horizontal movement on his slider -- and pitched plenty well enough to stick.

Thielbar is now in more of a position of certainty this spring than he’s seen in the last half-decade, with a spot on his first Opening Day roster appearing likely as a left-handed option other than Taylor Rogers.

Though the Twins have also added Alex Colomé and Hansel Robles to their back-end depth alongside Tyler Duffey, they’ll also need the likes of Thielbar, Cody Stashak and Jorge Alcala to step up to replace the production of some lost veterans. They seem confident that Thielbar will play a big role in that.

“His stuff has flashed really good this spring, with that back strain kind of sandwiched in between all of his throwing,” Baldelli said. “It was great to see him finally back out there.”

Twins option four to alternate site
The Twins optioned infielder Travis Blankenhorn, infielder Nick Gordon, outfielder Gilberto Celestino and catcher Ben Rortvedt to their alternate training site following Monday’s game, trimming their camp roster to 51 players.

All four players had seen limited action as backups through the first two weeks of Spring Training games, but Baldelli said he hopes they will see more consistent playing time on the Minor League side, including with a “B” game against the Red Sox on Wednesday. The Twins had already moved six pitchers off their Major League roster on Sunday.

“Start to get their timing in and get ready for their season, as opposed to coming in and getting an inning here and there and hopefully getting an at-bat every other day,” Baldelli said. “This is an opportunity to get really locked in. But again, they were great in our camp and showed themselves very well.”

Part of the goal with the cuts has been to give the Twins the opportunity to consolidate a smaller roster in the stadium clubhouse, as the size of the group at the start of camp necessitated the position players to use the stadium and pitchers to use the Minor League clubhouse. That realignment could potentially happen sometime around the team's upcoming off-day on Thursday.

Up next
José Berríos won’t make his third straight Opening Day start for the Twins, but he’s had a highly effective spring in his own right. His fastball touched 97 mph several times in his last start against Tampa Bay, and he has collected seven strikeouts in five scoreless innings while allowing only two hits in Grapefruit League action. He and the brunt of the Twins’ high-leverage bullpen options -- Colomé, Rogers, Robles and Duffey -- are expected to take the mound in Tuesday’s 12:05 p.m. CT contest against the Pirates at Hammond Stadium.