Twins’ Brock Stewart quickly moves on from homer, as a good reliever must

DENVER — Twins reliever Brock Stewart was plenty upset after he gave up the tiebreaking home run to the Colorado Rockies’ Ezequiel Tovar in a 10-6 loss Saturday night. Stewart said he was “very frustrated” and thought “about that one pitch, just getting mad at myself.”

For about an hour. Then he got on with his life.

During a series in which Twins manager Rocco Baldelli wondered aloud about his team’s ability to put past mistakes in the past, nobody has to deal with those emotions more than high-leverage relievers like Stewart, for whom mistakes are usually game-changing. And nobody is more equipped for it either.

“It’s the life of a reliever. There’s new life, new opportunity today [Sunday]. You’ve just got to ride the wave of the season, all the highs and lows,” said Stewart, who has given up just three home runs in 30 ⅓ innings this season — but all of them gave the opponent a lead in an eventual Twins loss. “I just got ambushed. My four-seamer to righties has been good this year, so I’m not going to shy away from it.”

Relievers are just expected to be effective, so it’s not news when they succeed. That’s an adjustment, too.

“We’re like the offensive linemen of baseball. You’re expected to make that block every time,” lefthander Danny Coulombe said. “People only notice us when it’s, ‘Well, why did you throw that pitch?’“

Bullpen coach Colby Suggs acts as a mental-health counselor when something like that happens, Baldelli said, and the relievers tend to rally around one another to make sure they’re OK.

“Colby has daily conversations with every one of those guys, so it’s kind of built in,” Baldelli said. “Yeah, it can probably bother you when you don’t get the job done .... but you’re out there with a group of guys ... and you see other guys go through it. So, you know you’re not alone.”

Coulombe has experienced such difficult moments, of course. And one stands out.

“Last year, [Orioles righthander] Kyle Bradish threw seven hitless innings in Chicago. He had a no-hitter. I came in in the eighth, and the first hitter [Danny Mendick of the White Sox] hit a homer. I blew the no-hitter,” said Coulombe, who spent the past two seasons in Baltimore.

How long did it bother him?

“It’s baseball. You’re going to go through things,” Coulombe said. “... I went out a couple of days later, and I was fine. Same goes for Brock — the guy took a good swing. You just have to flush it and move on. I guarantee, he already has.”

Ryan Jeffers’ wife, Lexi, is due to give birth any day now, so the Twins catcher is prepared to fly home at a moment’s notice.

The Twins are preparing, too. To ensure they are not left with just one catcher, the team summoned Mickey Gasper to Denver over the weekend, and he was set to travel to Los Angeles with them. He’s officially on the “taxi squad” teams are allowed to use for situations like this and will be activated if Jeffers goes on MLB’s three-day paid paternity list.

“We have everything set up,” Jeffers, who went 5-for-9 in the first two games at Coors Field but sat out Sunday as Christian Vázquez played and had three hits. “I’m sleeping terrible. ... I’m consciously waiting for something.”

David Festa doesn’t normally give much thought to the pitcher he will oppose in his starts. Monday night’s game at Dodger Stadium is an exception.

“Obviously, it’s pretty cool. I’m looking forward to it,” Festa said of his Monday matchup against Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Japanese superstar, returning from Tommy John surgery he underwent in September 2023, will be making his sixth start of the season, though he hasn’t pitched more than three innings at a time while he builds up his arm strength. Ohtani pitched three games against the Twins while with the Los Angeles Angels — the Twins lost all three — and struck out 27 in 17 ⅓ innings while posting a 2.08 ERA.

That’s not the part that Festa is most focused on, though. Ohtani also has a .928 OPS as a hitter in 24 games against the Twins with six home runs.

“Thank God I don’t have to hit,” Festa said with a laugh. “It’s cool to face him as a hitter, just because he’s obviously really good. … Hopefully I have a great outing and give the team a chance to win.”

Jose Miranda hit a three-run homer, Ryan Fitzgerald connected for a solo blast in his first game off the injured list, and the St. Paul Saints beat the Louisville Bats 6-1 to take two out of three games and claim their second series victory this season away from CHS Field.