Andrew Albers will get his first major league start of the year this Friday, in his second game of the season with the Minnesota Twins. (Facebook/Andrew Albers Fan Club)
Hometown Standout

Albers to get major league start Friday versus Brewers

Aug 26, 2021 | 5:00 PM

Almost four years to the day since North Battleford’s Andrew Albers made his last start on the mound in the major leagues, the southpaw pitcher is set to make his return for the Minnesota Twins Friday, as the team will host the rival Milwaukee Brewers at Target Field.

“I’m just really excited about tomorrow, and thankful I’m getting an opportunity,” the 35-year-old MLB veteran said. “As you get a little bit older you don’t know how many more of these opportunities you’re going to get, so I’m looking forward to it. I’m just going to go out, prepare myself as best as I can, and hopefully be able to have some success tomorrow.”

While Friday will mark Albers’ first start in the majors since 2017 when he was a member of the Seattle Mariners, it will be his second game since being called up to the big club last week in replacement of Kenta Maeda’s spot in the starting rotation.

Maeda became the eleventh Twins’ pitcher to be added to the injured list when he was sidelined with a forearm injury.

Making the most of his opportunity, Albers pitched for four innings of long relief in the Twins’ 7-5 loss last Thursday to the New York Yankees, allowing just two hits while posting four strikeouts with a 2.25 ERA (earned run average) at Yankee Stadium.

Following an impressive performance in relief last week, Albers will get the nod to start Friday’s game versus the Brewers tomorrow night. (Facebook/Andrew Albers Fan Club)

Albers’ journey to get back to the big leagues has been one of hard work and diligent determination. After playing much of the last three years overseas in Japan, he returned to the Twins’ organization this year on a minor league pact with the club’s Triple-A affiliate, the St. Paul Saints.

After a bit of a tough start to the year in Triple-A by his own admission, Albers’ season has turned around since starting for Canada at the Olympic qualifiers earlier in the spring.

“The season didn’t get off to a great start for me and I had a pretty rough first month in Triple-A with St. Paul, but going to pitch for Team Canada let me kind of get away from all that and reset,” he said. “Once I came back from that experience I was able to refocus and have been throwing the ball a lot better since then, so I’m very thankful for that and the opportunity it gave me.”

Albers posted a 3.86 ERA and 1.30 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) over 91 innings (16 appearances) with Triple-A St. Paul prior to being promoted.

Martin.Martinson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1

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