Travis Adams, a righthanded pitcher who was used in a piggyback role at Class AAA, is joining the Twins bullpen ahead of Friday's series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Twins demoted lefty Kody Funderburk to Class AAA St. Paul, leaving the bullpen without any lefthanded relievers. Funderburk gave up 15 hits and eight runs in eight innings over his past seven appearances.

Adams, 25, posted a 3-1 record and a 3.43 ERA in 13 outings (two starts) with 37 strikeouts and 10 walks in 42 innings. A sixth-round pick in the 2021 MLB amateur draft, he was added to the Twins' 40-man roster last November. He will make his major league debut when he appears in his first big-league game.

For the St. Paul Saints, Adams often pitched every four days, one fewer day than a typical starter, and he covered three to four innings. It was designed to prepare him for a long relief role in the big leagues while maintaining his ability to start.

"We felt like with him going on the [40-man] roster, the most likely role with the starting depth that we have in the short term was to be a guy who might have to come up, give us two or three innings at a time, be that piggyback role," Twins President Derek Falvey said last month.

Adams is ranked as the No. 22 prospect in the Twins farm system by Baseball America. He features a six-pitch mix with a mid-90s fastball and a solid slider that he threw more than a quarter of the time in Class AAA.