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Griffin Jax knew what the numbers said all along, that the underlying numbers continued to indicate that he should be one of the best relievers in baseball.

But as he sank deeper and deeper into what eventually proved to be the toughest stretch of his career for more than a month from April 18-May 19, during which he posted five losses, four blown saves, a 7.50 ERA and an .896 opposing OPS, it became tougher and tougher for him to still internalize that when the results on the field so overwhelmingly indicated otherwise.

Well, now the seemingly odd and flat-out weird circumstances that seemed to arise whenever he took the mound -- dribblers that went for infield singles, weak ground balls to the exact wrong spots, errors behind him -- finally appear to have gone away.

“I went through a little bit of a period in my head like, ‘Oh, man. Maybe last year was a fluke and I'm back to where I was in '21 where I just wasn't a good pitcher,’” Jax said. “But that's where the importance of being relayed the numbers of being a top-10 reliever and the stuff being top-five, all that, was helping regain my confidence to where it was like, ‘You know, it wasn't a fluke last year. I'm good. I belong up here.’”

Jax has allowed only four hits in 10 2/3 innings since May 22, with 12 strikeouts and no walks -- the kind of performance that the Twins expected from their breakout bullpen star of 2022, who was entrusted with being one of Minnesota’s primary setup men this season. Just in time, too -- for both the team and for a still-new reliever who had to deal with extended struggles for the first time.

“It was still tough just waking up, a little bit of hesitancy coming to the ballpark,” Jax said. “When things aren't going your way, you're not performing, it's just tough to have the same face every single day.”

The Twins are hoping that Jorge López will similarly be able to come out the other side of his own struggles with this level of success, because their pitching plans hinged heavily on both Jax and López being able to bridge the gap to Jhoan Duran in close games.

The surprise emergence of Brock Stewart has helped, but there’s a reason why the Twins were so hopeful for both Jax and López. Their stuff is tremendous, with high upside, and their roles have been more needed than ever given the number of close games Minnesota has played early this season.

At least, now, Jax finally feels like he’s returned to some normalcy.

“I feel like that was important for me to go through because I learned how to do it and carry myself in a better way,” Jax said. “So now, when things get tough again, I've already experienced it.”

“Ninth inning, eighth inning, seventh inning, sixth inning, truthfully, I don't really think about the inning,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I just know he's throwing the ball great.”