It's been a rough month for Jorge Alcala, who earned a late-inning role in the Twins bullpen with his reliability for most of the summer.

Alcala, in his previous 10 appearances, gave up 13 hits and 11 runs in 9⅓ innings (10.61 ERA). He totaled as many strikes (five) as homers surrendered.

"Nothing has really changed," the 29-year-old Alcala said, according to team interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. "I give credit to the batters. They made adjustments, and it's their job to put the ball in play. It's just them doing their job. But I've been feeling well."

This is the first time Alcala has pitched more than 28 innings in a season since 2021 because of injuries, but his velocity was up in an outing Wednesday, reaching 100.5 mph with his fastball. He still gave up two hits and a run against the four Atlanta batters he faced.

Alcala entered August with a 1.63 ERA across 35 appearances and 38⅔ innings.

"No, I'm not frustrated," Alcala said. "I do my job and batters do their job. It's not frustration. Every time I go out, I just try to do what I know and what I do best. ... I'm really grateful I'm healthy this year. That's all I want is to be healthy."

Team meeting

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli addressed the team in a postgame meeting after Monday's 10-6 loss to the Braves.

His message?

"This is what you want: Going in September in a good spot with an opportunity to play really important games throughout the month," Baldelli said. "If you do your job well, you have a chance to go to the playoffs and maybe win a World Series. That's what we're here for. That's what we want to do. All of our guys should be thinking that. Young and old, they should be in there thinking this is great."

The Twins, who entered Friday with losses in seven of their previous nine games, have seven games against Kansas City and Cleveland in September, the two teams ahead of them in the AL Central standings. Plus, there are three games at Boston, the club trailing the Twins in the wild-card race.

"There are a lot of high hopes for this club, a lot of lofty goals," catcher Ryan Jeffers said. "But if we want to achieve those goals, we've got to play better baseball. We understand we're relying on some young guys in really important roles. We're depleted with injuries. There's a lot of things you can point fingers at. But at the end of the day, we believe in this team, and we know we've got to play better."

Kepler sits

Max Kepler was out of the lineup Friday for the fourth time in the team's past five games before entering as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning. He was scratched from a game Sunday because of left knee soreness, then he wasn't running well Tuesday when he was held up at third on a double in a game the Twins lost in extra innings.

"I want to make sure he can do everything he needs to do before we put him in the lineup again," Baldelli said Friday. "Coming out of the last game he played in, he did not feel great. Then we ran into the lefty [Chris] Sale, had the day off, we'll work him out today and see how he feels. I think he should be OK going forward, but I didn't want it to be a minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour decision as to whether or not he was going to play."

Etc.

• Center fielder Byron Buxton took part in pregame outfield drills Friday as he moves toward beginning a rehab assignment. "He's getting close to being able to go out there and play," Baldelli said. "I would say Buck is ahead of [Carlos] Correa at this point."

• The St. Paul Saints split a doubleheader at Omaha with a 6-5 loss and an 8-3 win. Andrew Morris pitched five scoreless innings in the victory while Carson McCusker hit a three-run homer.

• The Twins held their annual team party Thursday at Target Field with weather moving the Pohlad family-hosted festivities indoors at Truly On Deck. Baldelli said a magician was one of the most popular parts of the event.