Twins’ Danny Coulombe off to strong start: ‘You can’t do it much better’

It s been nearly a full year since Danny Coulombe has given up a run Just don t tell him that There s various things that are not talked about you know Coulombe announced And this is one of them though that stat might be somewhat misleading Coulombe did miss much of the summer last year recovering from surgery to remove bone chips from his left elbow That still doesn t take away from the fact that the veteran reliever has been awfully impressive in his return to Minnesota Coulombe has made appearances this year all of them scoreless As the only southpaw in the Twins bullpen he s often tasked with facing tough lefties Friday with Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax each having pitched the night before he came out for his second save of the year and needed only nine pitches eight of them strikes to get it Danny s been as good as you can be manager Rocco Baldelli explained You really can t do it much better than what he s doing No you can t Coulombe has thrown scoreless innings He has struck out walked just one and boasts a WHIP Walks and Hits Per Inning Pitched His scoreless streak stretches even further than that He last gave up a run on May His scoreless-inning streak is the longest advancing one in the majors He s one of the better lefties in the whole event so he s a big addition to our bullpen catcher Ryan Jeffers mentioned Having that lefty who can get righties and lefties out at a really good clip he s going to be a staple of our bullpen all year Coulombe has been tough on righties they re slashing against him and even better against lefties in his second stint with the Twins The lefty pitched for the Twins between - and returned as a minor league free agent in fighting to make the roster in spring training Since the Twins did not plan to carry him he exercised an upward mobility clause in his contract going to the Baltimore Orioles where he posted a earned-run average in his first year and a ERA last year And though last year was disrupted by a surgery he finished the season healthy and has kept going from there I feel like I m the same pitcher I was last year he reported Rocco and the staff have done a really good job putting me in situations that are conducive for me and my skillset Wallner progressing Matt Wallner had never had a hamstring injury so he wasn t exactly sure what to expect from his magnetic resonance imaging results He did know one thing I was pretty sure it wasn t going to come out good the right fielder mentioned Wallner was diagnosed with a moderate-to-severe hamstring strain and while he still isn t nearing a return he has been making progress since being placed on the injured list on April He has been able to hit and do other baseball programs throughout the process and has started running at percent On Friday he tried turning while running for the first time I don t know what that means Wallner stated I ve never done it before but it should be good I would think Briefly Reliever Michael Tonkin out with a shoulder strain suffered a setback on his rehab assignment Tonkin who was in the Twins clubhouse on Saturday has made six rehab appearances thus far The Twins will finish out their homestand on Sunday with Pablo L pez on the mound facing off against righty Landen Roupp Related Articles Chris Paddack dominant as Twins beat Giants for sixth-straight win Twins Joe Ryan set for start after intense bout of illness earlier in week Joe Ryan s illness shuffles Twins rotation plans Twins pull ahead late with Brooks Lee s big hit sweep Orioles Back from injured list Royce Lewis aims to play a little bit smarter