Twins option reliever Jorge Alcala to Triple-A, activate newly acquired Irvin

The Minnesota Twins had to send down somebody from the active roster to make room for pitcher Cole Irvin, whom the club acquired off waivers on Monday, but the choice is a bit of a surprise.

Tuesday, the club officially optioned relief pitcher Jorge Alcala to Triple-A St. Paul to make room for Irvin.

Related: Twins DFA Dobnak, claim pitcher Cole Irvin from Orioles

Of all active Twins relievers, Alcala trails only Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax in win probability added this season for Minnesota, although he's had some struggles lately.

After carrying an ERA of 1.63 into August, Alcala began to struggle more. He gave up 11 runs over 10 innings last month, including five in the series finale against the Texas Rangers on Aug. 18 that started the abysmal stretch the Twins have been on for the past several weeks.

He did give up the grand slam to Elly De La Cruz on Friday, although only half of those runs were charged to him, but he’s also tossed 4.1 other scoreless innings this month. In the past two weeks, only Cole Sands has a lower batting average against than Alcala among Twins relievers, although his ERA is lower than only Duran and Louie Varland during that span.

On the season, Alcala, 29, is 4-3 with a 3.46 ERA and 52 strikeouts over 54.2 innings. Factoring in the 8.2 innings he’s tossed at Triple-A this season, Alcala has tossed his most innings in a season since 2019, which was followed by a wave of injuries that derailed the promising start to his career until this season.

For a team in need of every bit of help it can get, especially from the bullpen, it's a bold move. We'll see if it pays off.