David Festa becomes Twins' latest starting pitcher to land on IL

Twins starting pitcher David Festa has been placed on the IL with right shoulder inflammation, an issue that cost him some time at Triple-A earlier this season.

Festa becomes the latest Twins starter to land on the IL this season. He joins Pablo Lopez and Bailey Ober, the latter of whom is nearing a potential return. Zebby Matthews came off of the IL just this past weekend, only for Festa to now take his place.

Travis Adams has been recalled once again to help fill the fifth rotation spot.

Festa, 25, started for the Twins on Monday against the Dodgers. He allowed four runs on three homers — including a two-run moonshot by Shohei Ohtani — over 5.1 innings, striking out five. He has a 5.40 ERA across 11 appearances and 53.1 innings in the big leagues this year. He also has a 2.83 ERA across six games with Triple-A St. Paul.

Despite having a 5.12 ERA in his first 25 major league games, dating back to last season, there remains plenty of hope that Festa will eventually emerge as a key long-term piece of the Twins' rotation. The lanky 6'6" righty has elite extension, promising raw stuff, and 130 strikeouts to 42 walks in 117.2 MLB innings.

Adams, who comes from the same 2021 draft class as Festa, has a 6.00 ERA in nine innings over three appearances this year. Festa's rotation spot is next scheduled to come up on Sunday against the Nationals, so that could be a bullpen game with a few innings for Adams.

Here's the current state of the Twins' rotation:

• Joe Ryan
• Pablo Lopez (on IL)
• Bailey Ober (on IL)
• Chris Paddack
• Simeon Woods Richardson
• David Festa (on IL)
• Zebby Matthews
• Travis Adams (as bulk pitcher)

Paddack starts for the Twins in Wednesday's series finale against the Dodgers. Matthews, Ryan, and Adams/bullpen are the likely starters for this weekend's home series against the Nats.

Ober, who hasn't pitched for the Twins since he wrapped up a historically-bad month on June 28, is set to make a second rehab start with St. Paul on Friday. He threw four scoreless innings for the Saints last Friday. If all goes well, he could be a candidate to step back into the rotation as soon as July 30 against the Red Sox.

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