Twins claim lefthanded reliever Joey Wentz off waivers from Pirates

Joey Wentz has pitched in nine Twins games over his career, and the Twins have won the last seven in a row.

OK, all of them came when he pitched for Detroit. But they’d like him to keep those Twins victories coming.

The Twins claimed the 27-year-old lefthander off waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday and will add him to their active roster Thursday.

“He’s a big lefthanded pitcher [with] good ride on the heater,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We’re excited to have him. He’s a guy that can give you length if you need it, but he also has good stuff, so it gives you an opportunity to make good adjustment and maybe help him go beyond anything he’s been doing.”

It’s the second time in 10 months that Wentz has changed teams via waivers, having gone from Detroit to Pittsburgh last September. A starter in Detroit, Wentz posted a 4.15 ERA this season in the Pirates’ bullpen, striking out 22 in 26 innings but walking 11.

His most recent outing, Wentz, the 40th pick in the 2016 draft, earned a win by allowing one run over 3⅔ innings in Arizona. But he was designated for assignment by Pittsburgh last Saturday.

Wentz owns a 4.60 ERA over 31 innings in his nine career appearances, five of them starts, against the Twins.

To make room on the 40-man roster, the Twins placed Pablo López on the 60-day injured list.

After Wednesday’s victory over the Rangers, the Twins traded Jorge Alcala to Boston to make room for Wentz on the 26-man active roster.

While the Twins were away, Theo and Tommy got to play.

That’s how Danny Coulombe’s 6- and 3-year-old sons will remember the Twins’ 11-day road trip earlier this month. The lefthander, on the injured list at the time, came to Target Field every day to work out and rehab his sore biceps, “and the kids got free rein of this place,” Coulombe said. “They came with me every day, got in the hot tub and the cold tub, stretched and rehabbed with me a little bit. It was good, it was fun for them, but I missed being around the team.”

Now the team is back, and so is Coulombe, after only one inning — “nine pitches, actually, seven strikes,” he clarified — on a rehab assignment in St. Paul.

That’s it? On a team that usually insists upon several games to demonstrate health, Coulombe seems like an outlier.

“I didn’t take much time off, so I didn’t need a long stint. That was kind of the plan — one and go,” Coulombe said. “I threw two bullpens and my stuff was all there. Velo was pretty good, so we just decided I’m where I need to be.”

Baldelli said it was up to the medical staff, which was all in agreement.

“Rehab assignments are very helpful in a lot of cases. There are also cases where they’re just unnecessary,” Baldelli said. “Danny really wasn’t out very long, so the timing of it was obviously going to be one of the main factors.”

Coulombe sat out one day short of three weeks with biceps tendinitis — the soreness was localized near his elbow, he said, and “cleared up pretty quickly” — and returned to faced one batter in the Twins’ loss to Texas on Tuesday. “Two pitches,” Coulombe said with a laugh.

“We just wanted to get him in the game,” Baldelli said. “We put him in that spot just for a reason, just get him out there and take the mound again.”

Coulombe, who has not allowed a run in his past 27 innings, dating back to last season, is glad to be back. But he’ll miss those workouts with his sons, plus fellow rehabbers Michael Tonkin and Luke Keaschall.

“Keaschall is doing good” as the 22-year-old rookie recovers from a broken arm, Coulombe said. “I joked with him that he’s closer in age to my kids than to me.”

The tournament is over, and Trevor Larnach is the champion. There is no better free-throw shooter on the Twins.

Which may seem like an unusual talent for a baseball team to determine, but “we’re here all day, seven days a week for eight months,” Baldelli pointed out. “Gotta have a good time.”

The tournament, held in the team’s equipment room on a hoop purchased in 2013 by All-Star closer Glen Perkins, took a few weeks to reach a conclusion but came down to Larnach vs. Cole Sands on Wednesday. Sands took an early lead during the first 10-shot rounds, but Larnach, who played basketball in high school, got hot late and rallied to victory.

His prize? A Phoenix Suns jersey with Steve Nash’s name and number.

“The highest all-time retired free-shooter, percentagewise, of all time,” explained Baldelli, who bought and donated the jersey. “Steph Curry is No. 1, but sometimes guys don’t like to get active [player] jerseys that are maybe playing against their own hometown team. So we went with Steve Nash.”

Marco Raya gave up two hits in five scoreless innings, starting the St. Paul Saints toward a 5-4 Class AAA victory over the Indians at Indianapolis. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. started a four-run fifth for the Saints with a double, and his single in the seventh inning drove in the winning run.