FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Jose Berrios is working on three things this spring: getting more consistent with his changeup, throwing more off his back heel and keeping his chest more closed in his delivery.

Oh, and he also wouldn't mind earning the first Opening Day start of his career.

"They don’t tell me that’s official already, but I’ve been working to prepare myself for that day," Berrios said. "I want to pitch that day. We’ve got a really good group, good pitchers in this clubhouse, but I put in my effort to be ready that day."

Manager Rocco Baldelli expects to officially name his Opening Day starter in the coming days. In the meantime, Berrios, the presumed favorite to earn the nod, continued to stretch out for the regular season with 55 pitches over 2 1/3 innings in the Twins' 3-3 tie with the Phillies on Sunday.

Berrios said after his start, his second of the spring, that he was getting tired towards the end of his outing. He faced the minimum through two innings before he allowed a two-run homer to Andrew Romine in the third inning, and was pulled after he walked Scott Kingery.

"He needed to get work and get stretched out a little bit today," Baldelli said. "That's where he is in his progression. It actually worked out well. He was sweating a lot when he was out there, you could see it going down his right arm and wrist and onto his hand. But I thought it was a very productive day."

Jake Arrieta started and threw three perfect innings for Philadelphia on Sunday, and Berrios is eagerly anticipating their next battle.

"I like that matchup," Berrios said. "Hopefully we can match up again in Philadelphia."

Perez lights up radar gun

When the Twins signed left-hander Martin Perez during the offseason to compete for their fifth rotation spot, they did so with a plan to tweak the left-hander's mechanics and pitch usage, with the idea that his difficult 2018 wasn't indicative of his true potential.

In his three scoreless innings against the Phillies on Sunday, Perez showed a promising glimpse of the changed pitcher that the Twins hope can round out their starting rotation in 2019.

"Not many people have the ability to just show up and, 'We're just going to add something or two things to what you do. Can you do it?'" Baldelli said. "And then you ask that question, and then you look up the next week, and he shows that he can do all these different things. It’s actually really impressive."

Perez's four-seam fastball, which averaged 92.8 mph a year ago, touched 97 mph five times on Sunday. According to Statcast, he only threw four pitches throughout the entire 2018 regular season tracked at 96.5 mph or higher. He allowed two hits, but he struck out four, including striking out the side in the sixth to complete his outing.

"Today might have been the best that we’ve seen of all of his outings, including bullpens and everything that’s gone on so far," Baldelli said. "He’s put himself in a really good spot at this point in the spring. I don’t know if he could have thrown the ball much better than he did today. I think that was about as impressive of an outing as you could ask for."

Granite traded to Rangers

The Twins traded outfielder Zack Granite to the Rangers before Sunday's game for Minor League pitcher Xavier Moore and cash considerations. Two hours later, Moore was flipped to the Orioles in exchange for $750,000 of international bonus pool cap space.

Granite had been designated for assignment last Monday to make room for free-agent acquisition Marwin Gonzalez on the Twins' 40-man roster.

The 26-year-old Granite last appeared for the Twins in 2017, when he hit .237/.321/.290 with one homer and 13 RBIs in 40 games. After he was drafted by Minnesota in the 14th round of the 2013 MLB Draft, Granite was named the Twins' Minor League Player of the Year in 2016 for hitting .295/.347/.382 with four homers, eight triples and 56 steals with Double-A Chattanooga.

Up next

After recovering from a January bout of E. coli, right-hander Kyle Gibson will make his spring debut in a 12:05 p.m. CT contest against the Orioles at Hammond Stadium on Monday. Gibson, who recorded career bests in ERA (3.62) and strikeouts (179) last season, will be followed by most of the Twins' anticipated Opening Day bullpen, including Fernando Romero, Blake Parker, Addison Reed, Trevor May and Taylor Rogers.