MINNEAPOLIS -- Twins right-hander J.R. Graham spent most of his minor-league career as a starting pitcher, but has never made a start above the Double-A level.
That will change Saturday when Graham makes a spot start for Minnesota against the Milwaukee Brewers. Monday's rainout in Boston, coupled with Ricky Nolasco's ankle injury, threw a wrench in the Twins' rotation plans, meaning they had to figure out an option for Saturday's game at Target Field.
That's where Graham will step in. Of the 74 career games Graham pitched in the minors in the Braves' organization, 61 of them were starts. It wasn't until the second half of last season with Double-A Mississippi that Graham was transitioned to a reliever.
For at least one game, Graham will have a chance to do what he did so often in the minors as a starter.
"Not much different than coming out of the bullpen. You're just trying to get people out and see how long I can go," Graham said Friday. "I know when I used to start, I used to think of it as nine one-inning saves."
As a starter last year with Double-A Mississippi, Graham had a record of 1-5 with a 5.26 ERA in 19 starts. The Twins took him as a Rule 5 pick this year, but his workload has been sporadic since early in the season.
Graham's last two relief outings with the Twins were for three innings each, with his most recent appearance going 60 pitches. Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said Friday that he hopes Graham can get to the 70 or 75-pitch mark in Saturday's start.
"He's had kind of an interesting couple months," Molitor said. "He's excited. He's been a starter most of his professional career. It shouldn't be that foreign, other than the fact that it's his first one at this level. It's just circumstances that have given him this opportunity."
Graham said his family won't be making the trip for his first big-league start, given that the plans came together on short notice. He also won't be making any changes to his now-patented stirrups. In just about every respect, Graham plans to treat Saturday like any other outing.
"I'm just going to pitch off what I do best," Graham said. "I know if I go out there and do what I can do, I'm going to have an advantage over those hitters."
Molitor reminisces about Milwaukee: Most of Molitor's Hall of Fame career was spent in a Milwaukee Brewers uniform -- 15 seasons, to be exact. And although Molitor eventually faced his former team as a player with the Blue Jays and the Twins, this weekend marks the first time the first-year skipper will manage against the Brewers.
Molitor insists his history with the team won't make this weekend's series any different from a managerial standpoint, but it will stir up some old memories.
"For me, obviously, it rekindles a fairly large chapter of my life down there wearing that uniform," Molitor said. "I remember as a player, coming up here to play the Twins and vice versa, just the amount of people that would travel to watch the rivalry. With the interleague being fairly long in tenure now, it might not have quite the same magic. But I'm sure we'll see a lot of Brewers fans out there tonight and vice versa when we go down to Milwaukee."
This year is the first time since 2012 that the Twins and Brewers play their interleague series on the weekend. In both 2013 and 2014, the teams had two-game homestands during the week.
Cortisone shot a possibility for Nolasco: Twins right-hander Ricky Nolasco had a CT scan Friday on his injured right ankle. Molitor said the tests revealed that the current impingement is related to a previous injury that recently became inflamed again.
One possible solution to the inflammation, Molitor said, would be a cortisone injection in Nolasco's ankle.
"I think that's being considered in the short-term," Molitor said. "I don't know if that's going to happen for sure, but somehow we're hoping we can get that thing under control and he doesn't have to miss much time."
When Molitor was asked how many cortisone injections he received during his 21-year major league career, he estimated it was over 100.
"They don't work as well after about 80," he said.
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