Inside the Twins’ decision to use Danny Coulombe as an opener against Brewers

Twins lefthander Danny Coulombe has given up one run in 19 ⅔ innings as a reliever this season, and now one run in his first inning as a starter.

Coulombe was used as an opener in front of righthander David Festa during the Twins’ 9-8 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday at Target Field. It was a move the Twins finalized Saturday, giving Coulombe a chance to face two lefthanded batters in the first inning.

It didn’t work as the team planned. Christian Yelich hit a two-out double in the lefty-on-lefty matchup, ending a nine-pitch at-bat, and William Contreras followed with an RBI double.

“Danny is going to see the lefthanders one way or the other,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Whether it’s at the beginning of the game, the end of the game or somewhere in the middle, that’s who we’re going to be matching him up against.”

Festa, who was warming up in the bullpen before the game started, was prepared to enter as early as the fourth batter. The idea is that it gives Festa a chance to pitch a little deeper without facing the top of the lineup for a third time.

“I tried to treat that long half inning as if you were the away team and it’s the top of the first,” said Festa, who gave up a homer to his first batter and gave up 12 hits and eight runs in 4 ⅔ innings. “I mean, it’s a little different, but it had no impact on any of the results.”

It was the second time the Twins opted to use an opener this year. Justin Topa faced the first six batters on April 19 in Atlanta, giving up three hits and a run, before Simeon Woods Richardson pitched 4 ⅓ innings in a 4-3 loss.

“It’s been something that I’ve been thinking about for a while,” Baldelli said. “It’s been a little while now we’ve been struggling to stop the other teams from scoring. We’re going to introduce something new and try to switch things up. Not just for the sake of switching things up, but because I think there are actual benefits there too.”

Willi Castro was scratched from Sunday’s lineup because of right wrist soreness, which stemmed from a “funky” swing Thursday at Cincinnati. He underwent an X-ray, which did not reveal a fracture.

“When I went to get up this morning, I put my hand, trying to get up from the bed and it wasn’t feeling good,” Castro said. “As soon as I came in, I told the trainers about it, and they told me they were going to take me out of the game. We don’t want it to get worse.”

Castro was told to expect more swelling, and he expects to return to the lineup in the next two or three days.

Brooks Lee didn’t run out a dropped third strike to end Saturday’s 9-0 loss to the Brewers, an awkward ending to a blowout loss.

Lee struck out on a slider in the dirt from reliever Aaron Ashby. The ball rolled about 20 feet away from catcher William Contreras, giving Lee a chance to run to first. After a long pause, Lee declined and walked to Contreras where he was tagged out.

“I have to run, definitely,” said Lee, whose 19-game hitting streak ended Saturday. “I didn’t realize that ball was all the way to the dugout, but no matter what the score is, what the situation is, I think it’s just better off to give a hard [run] down there. That’s something I should have done. It shouldn’t happen again.”

The play, Baldelli said, was handled internally.

“When things come up and we have to correct them, we do,” he said Sunday. “We don’t talk about them. I don’t stand in front of the camera and discuss them — and I won’t — but these are things that we do on a regular basis, and not just yesterday.”

• The temperature at first pitch Sunday was 92 degrees, the hottest at Target Field since a 92-degree game on July 3, 2023. It was tied for the 13th-hottest game time temperature in Target Field history.

• Rookie Luke Keaschall, recovering from a fractured right forearm, is still at least a couple of weeks from playing in a game, but he started taking his first swings recently, hitting off a tee and hitting front flips in the batting cage.

• Saints righthander Andrew Morris, arguably the next guy in line for starting pitching depth, was placed on the seven-day injured list Saturday because of a right forearm strain. The Saints ended the first half of their season Sunday with a 3-2, 10-inning victory over Toledo at CHS Field, getting a ninth-inning tying homer from Yunior Severino and 10th-inning walk-off single from Aaron Sabato.