SARASOTA, Fla. -- Hector Santiago made his first start since March 5 -- after having two relief appearances for Team Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic -- and the Twins left-hander made a concerted effort to mix in his offspeed pitches in a 6-3 loss to the Orioles on Saturday night.
Santiago estimated he threw only four offspeed pitches out of his 63 total in his last outing on Monday against the Netherlands during the Classic. Santiago threw 80 pitches during his four-inning start against Baltimore -- giving up two runs on a pair of solo homers from J.J. Hardy and Jonathan Schoop -- and estimated about 25 of those were off-speed pitches.
"I definitely wanted to work on my offspeed," Santiago said. "That was my main goal. I threw seven sliders, seven or eight curveballs and maybe nine or 10 screwballs. So it was good all around to mix those in."
Santiago relies heavily on his fastball -- throwing it 63 percent of the time last year -- but he said he needs to mix in other pitches to keep hitters off-balance.
"It's a big thing," Santiago said. "I throw a lot of fastballs in, so I have to get them off that to be able to execute that fastball in and get some ugly swings. Offspeed is a big part of the game, to use both sides of the plate."
Worth noting
• Second baseman Ehire Adrianza, who is competing for a spot as a backup infielder, left the game with a right oblique strain. He's day to day, but the injury could hurt his chances of making the roster over his competition, which includes Eduardo Escobar and Danny Santana.
• The Twins could make extensive roster cuts as soon as Sunday, as they want to have their roster set a few days before they depart camp Friday night. Their Opening Day lineup is expected to be on display on Tuesday against the Rays.
Rhett Bollinger