Twins reliever Jhoan Duran receives recognition for his marvelous May

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Jhoan Duran made a number of adjustments to his pitching mechanics during spring training this year, making minor adjustments in how he grips a couple of pitches, how he shifts his weight as he strides forward from his back leg — and one modification to his to his windup that’s perhaps more noticeable to fans watching him pitch.

“I pull my hands more wide now [than in previous years], then tap my glove,” the Twins righthander said last weekend in Seattle. “When I do this, I feel more ready. I’m in rhythm. It helps, 100 percent.”

Nobody is saying that the new quirk in his windup — one that Caleb Thielbar also adopted two years ago — has made him the best reliever in baseball. Then again, Duran got some surprising news Tuesday morning when his wife, Aida, called.

“She said [it was on] the news. She told me, hey, you won pitcher of the month,” Duran said. “I said, ‘Really?’ She said, ‘Yeah!’ ”

Technically, he was named American League reliever of the month for May, becoming the first Twin to earn the monthly prize since the team’s all-time saves leader, Joe Nathan, who won in July 2006, July 2008 and June 2009. The last Twins pitcher to receive a monthly honor was Francisco Liriano in April 2010.

Duran threw 15 innings in May and allowed only one earned run, an 0.60 ERA, while striking out 20. He went 4-1 and saved seven games in eight chances.

His best month ever?

“I think so. It’s the first time I’ve won that, so maybe it’s the best month I’ve had,” Duran, who will receive a plaque from MLB for the honor, said with a shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t see my numbers. I don’t know how they decide.”

But assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez scoffed at the idea. “He’s had better months. He had incredible months [in 2023],” Ramirez said. “But it’s great that he gets noticed. He’s been good for a long time.”

His manager agreed.

“He’s been awesome. He’s been doing his job just at a very high level all year long,” Rocco Baldelli said. “They get almost no recognition, but they’re a huge part of any winning environment. They do so much good work for us, and normally they don’t get much besides a little high-five every once in a while. So, it’s pretty cool.”

So, did that glove-tap change make a difference?

“Maybe,” Duran said with a laugh. “I’m in good rhythm.”

The outfield at Sutter Health Park received a little extra attention from the Twins after their first game in the A’s temporary park late Monday, a 10-4 victory for the Twins.

For one thing, it’s a minor league park without an upper deck and no stands in the outfield, just a grass berm. Nothing, in other words, to neutralize the winds that blow along the Sacramento River.

“Big league stadiums, you don’t have the ball dancing like these balls are moving here,” center fielder Byron Buxton said. Case in point, Buxton said: Lawrence Butler’s three-run homer off Joe Ryan, which passed just out of reach over his head. “Joe’s best fastball of the day? And it gets out? That’s like so backwards for me. Where you get in a big league stadium, that same ball, I’m catching it at the warning track.”

And speaking of that warning track: It’s basically twice as wide as a standard MLB warning track, which is difficult for outfielders to adjust to, since they’re not looking down when a ball is coming. Buxton hit a second-inning double that A’s left fielder Drew Avans made an awkward attempt at catching on the run.

That ball, Twins right fielder Matt Wallner believes, would have been caught in most parks.

“It feels like that fell because of the wall. It’s like four steps on the track instead of two and a half,” said Wallner, who spent some time on the track before the game to measure how many steps he could take. “It wasn’t an easy play, but it’s a lot harder when you aren’t sure where the wall is.”

It also was probably aided by wind, Buxton said.

“That ball I hit, it probably don’t make it to the warning track somewhere else because it was too high,” he said. “First time playing here, it definitely feels like I’m in, like, Cedar Rapids. Just because of the wind.”

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre pounded three home runs in a five-run third inning against Simeon Woods Richardson, and the visiting RailRiders defeated the St. Paul Saints 8-5.