May 1, 2018

Twins will start top-ranked prospect Fernando Romero on Wednesday

The Twins announced Monday they will call up pitcher Fernando Romero to face the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday. Romero is the No. 2 prospect in the Twins organization, according to MLB.com.

MLB.com also reports that Romero struck out 20 batters in 21 innings and had a 2.57 ERA at Triple-A Rochester. To make room for Romero, starter Phil Hughes is headed to the bullpen after another sub-par effort on Friday.

And if starter Lance Lynn isn’t careful, he’ll soon be sitting next to Hughes in the bullpen.

Lynn had another disastrous outing in Monday’s 7-5 loss to the Blue Jays. Lynn is really struggling with his command after he served up six runs (all earned) in five innings with five walks, four strikeouts and two home runs. And his ERA, which was already elevated, rose to 8.37. Lynn is now 0-3 this season after signing a one-year, $12 million deal with the Twins.

Kyle Gibson, who was brilliant in his last start (six innings of one-hit ball versus the Yankees), gets the ball Tuesday.

Extra innings…

-Max Kepler had a good night on Monday with three extra-base hits: Two doubles and a triple.

-Reliever Ryan Pressly, who had yet to give up a run this season, has finally surrendered an earned run. That happened in Friday’s loss against the Reds. He now has an ERA of 0.59.

-Despite putting two men on in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Twins couldn’t capitalize on that effort and lost for the 10th time in 11 games.

-The Twins scored five runs on 10 hits Monday, but the lack of clutch hitting continues to elude them. The Twins were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.