Kris Johnson To Start Game Two of Minnesota Twins Doubleheader

Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Minnesota Twins have now gone three straight days without playing a game. Minneapolis has turned into what the TV tells me is Seattle all of the time with endless amounts of rain. No wonder they are sleepless out there.

The rain has delayed the start of the Twins interleague series with the Los Angeles Dodgers and pushed the game that was supposed to be on Tuesday into a split doubleheader on Thursday. The doubleheader will allow the Twins to call up a 26th man. That man will be Kris Johnson.

Johnson was acquired this past offseason when the Twins flipped pitchers with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Johnson was technically swapped for Duke Welker, but essentially he was kind of part of the Justin Morneau trade. Apparently, the Twins could only find the Pirates number for a while.

Johnson is a lefty and stands 6’4”. When he starts the 6:10 game on Thursday it will be his fifth major league game.

This season at Triple-A Rochester, Johnson has a 2.86 ERA and 1.182 WHIP in 22 innings over four starts. The 29-year-old Californian has struck out 20 and only walked eight so far in 2014. He has not yet given up a home run on the year.

If the Twins are rained out another day, I might have to tell my story about my reference to the Space Needle during a Sex Ed class in sixth grade.