"After coming dangerously close to blowing a three-run lead and a save against the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday at Target Field, Matt Capps explained how he views his job.

"Somebody told me a long time ago, when I first started throwing in the ninth inning, you're not here to win the ERA title or anything else," Capps said Saturday. "It's get three outs, keep them from tying the game or going ahead. As long as you do that, you have to be happy about it and sleep well."

And that, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, is how Capps has to approach his ninth-inning duties.

Capps has 12 saves in 14 chances since joining the Twins at the trade deadline. His latest came Saturday, when he worked a perfect 12th inning as the Twins beat Cleveland 1-0. Capps has given up seven runs (six earned) and walked seven in 20 innings.

The outcomes have been mostly positive, but it's how Minnesota's closers this season have come about those results that's provided a sort of stress rarely known when Joe Nathan was saving games for the Twins.

In six seasons as the Twins' closer, Nathan compiled a 0.934 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched). Capps and his predecessor, Jon Rauch, have combined for a 1.38 WHIP while pitching for the Twins.

"The save is the important thing. The manager and the pitching coach are the ones that suffer, and the fans. We all go crazy watching, but that's OK," Gardenhire said. "As a manager, when it comes down to it, that's probably when your stomach is turning the most, the last three outs. So that tells you a little bit about the pressure." "