Lohse copies sinker used by his brother

FORT MYERS, FLA. -- Little brothers usually get the hand-me-downs. Not in the Lohse family.

Kyle Lohse didn't like the sink on his sinker, so he has copied the one thrown by his younger brother Eric, who is a Twins minor leaguer. He used the pitch, which moves down and in on righthanded hitters, in the Twins' 5-4 victory over Los Angeles on Saturday.

Kyle Lohse became the first Twin to pitch four innings. He gave up one earned run on three hits while striking out three. He has a 2.00 ERA this spring.

"I've been working on a little different pitch," he said. "It's working pretty good. I'm getting a lot of ground balls with it."

Lohse moved from Fort Myers to Scottsdale, Ariz., during the offseason. Eric now lives in Arizona, too.

"He's got a pretty good one," Kyle Lohse said of his brother's pitch. "We were able to work out together this offseason for the first time."

Eric, a reliever, began last season at Class A Quad City, going 6-5 with a 3.32 ERA. He was promoted to Class A Fort Myers, where he was 0-2, 4.05.

Twins rally in ninth

Four seeing-eye singles, a walk, a fielding error and a wild pitch later, the Twins had a 5-4 victory.

"That was a classic ambush there," manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Luis Rivas was 2-for-2 and led an 11-hit attack.

Urbina watch over?

Urbina, who saved 32 games last season and helped Florida win the World Series, remains steadfast in not accepting a pay cut from the $4.5 million he made last season.

"The Twins are still one of the teams he's willing to pitch for," said Peter Greenberg, Urbina's agent. "We're also talking to some teams in Japan."

The Twins are projecting a $54 million payroll for this season and would appear to have some wiggle room to add salary. But not $4.5 million.

General Manager Terry Ryan said he has not spoken with Greenberg in two weeks. Indications are that the team will prepare righthander Joe Nathan to close this season.

Spring things

• Jesse Crain pitched a scoreless inning on Saturday but gave up a hit and walked a batter. "Too many 3-2 counts," Gardenhire said.

• Look for Nick Punto to play in center field sometime this week. It will be an important audition because the Twins need to know who can spell Torii Hunter. Gardenhire mentioned Jacque Jones as a possibility, too.

On deck