Key takeaways: Twins 4, Blue Jays 3

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Blue Jays didn’t thrive in Minneapolis this weekend, but they survived.

Even after Twins ace Joe Ryan left in the very first inning with elbow soreness, the Blue Jays couldn’t cobble much together against the Twins bullpen in a 4-3 loss until Kazuma Okamoto went deep in the ninth inning, his fourth home run in just three days.

Still stuck hovering below .500 at 16-18 as they board a long flight to Tampa for three games against the Rays, here’s what mattered from Sunday’s finale:

TREY DAY: Yesavage’s ‘B’ game

Trey Yesavage was far from flawless. He walked three batters and ran his pitch count up to 82 over just four innings, but he managed to keep the damage to just one run.

The Blue Jays would have loved to get Yesavage through five or more, but it became clear in the early innings that Yesavage needed to survive this day, not dominate it. These days will happen, so it’s encouraging to see Yesavage survive with what was essentially his ‘B’ game. He made some of his best pitches in big spots, including two swinging strikes to get Royce Lewis in a 3-1 count with the bases loaded in the third inning.

“Whenever I can work out of stuff and just command the way I want to, it’s very encouraging,” Yesavage said.

Kevin Gausman is such a great model for winning with your ‘B’ game. By now, we’ve all learned not to worry if Gausman comes out throwing 90 mph in the first inning without his elite splitter. Gausman always finds a way, and if Yesavage can keep finding a way, days like these will be just as important to his longevity in this league as the dominant ones.

Next time out, Yesavage should be cleared to push closer to 90 pitches, but don’t expect him to be the 110-pitch guy this season. Plenty of his outings will fall right in this range, and that’s by design.

Yesavage knows that efficiency is king if he wants to work deeper.

“It’s just about getting in the dugout, then my goal for the next inning is to get on and off the field as quickly as possible,” Yesavage said.

BRIGHT SIDE: Barger homers in rehab game

In just his second at-bat with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, Addison Barger launched a high home run to right-centre field on Sunday afternoon. It almost looks like Barger thought he flied out, based on his reaction leaving the box, but it doesn’t take much for him to leave the yard.

The likely plan? Barger plays another couple of games in Dunedin, and when the Blue Jays fly north from Tampa on Wednesday night after their series against the Rays, he’s on that flight.

Barger was off to a slow start in early April when he injured his ankle, but he’s still one of this lineup’s best shots at producing power and upside. He should slide right back into five starts a week, and could bat anywhere from the No. 2 spot to No. 5 and 6 behind Kazuma Okamoto.

BERRIOS UPDATE: One last rehab start?

Similar to Trey Yesavage’s rehab assignment, José Berríos’ rehab assignment hasn’t been straight and simple. The Blue Jays opted to have Berríos make one more outing Sunday with Triple-A Buffalo, where he allowed seven runs over 3 2/3 innings. That’s not exactly what the Blue Jays were looking for to “check the last box” in this process.

His sinker averaged just 90.1 mph in the outing and peaked at 92.1 mph, while he allowed three homers with four walks, too. Yes, it was just 10 Degrees Celsius (50 Fahrenheit), but that’s still well below where the Blue Jays want to see Berríos’ stuff at this point in his rehab.

His pitch count reached 70, the exact same number as last time, so the Blue Jays can consider him “built up” at this point and capable of pushing to 80-plus his next time out. This is more a question of where Berríos’ stuff is at and how the Blue Jays Berríos forecast that against big-league lineups.

Getting a strong, healthy Berríos back would be a huge boost to a rotation that’s about to roll with a bullpen day led by Eric Lauer on Monday in Tampa, but this still feels closer to a question mark than an answer.