Scratched by Saints, David Festa likely headed to Twins to replace Lopez

David Festa was scheduled to start for Triple-A St. Paul on Wednesday night. Those plans have changed. Festa has been scratched by the Saints and is almost certainly headed to the Twins to replace Pablo Lopez, who is bound for the IL after suffering a lat strain on Tuesday night.

With Lopez getting hurt, it was logically either Festa or Simeon Woods Richardson who would take the open spot in Minnesota's rotation. Woods Richardson just pitched for St. Paul on Tuesday, so he would've been lined up to fill Lopez's spot on Sunday, but he gave up three home runs and five ER in five innings in that game.

Festa has been more effective. The Twins' minor league pitcher of the month for May, he has a 2.83 ERA, a sub-1 WHIP, and a 34-to-4 strikeout to walk ratio in 28.2 innings for the Saints this season.

Because he last pitched nearly a week ago (May 29), it seems unlikely the Twins will make Festa wait until Sunday to start. Unless they fly him out to Seattle to start on Wednesday or Thursday, maybe he'll start on Friday when the Twins return to home to face the Blue Jays. They could then push the starts for Chris Paddack and Joe Ryan back one day each.

Festa, 25, made his MLB debut last season. He has a 4.31 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 77.1 career major-league innings, including a 1.38 mark in three starts earlier this season. The former 13th-round draft pick remains a big part of Minnesota's future pitching plans. When he's on, Festa can miss bats with all three of his prominent pitches (fastball, slider, changeup).

It is worth noting that Festa went 17 days between May starts with St. Paul due to shoulder fatigue. Since returning, he threw 54 pitches on May 23 and 66 on May 29, so he isn't fully stretched out. The hope might be to get 5 innings and no more than 75-80 pitches from him in his next Twins start.

Zebby Matthews and Bailey Ober are scheduled to start the final two games of the Twins' series against the Athletics in West Sacramento.

Randy Dobnak will now start for the Saints at CHS Field on Wednesday night.

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