Ricky Nolasco did not have a good game on Wednesday. It might because of an injury to Nolasco’s elbow. The team is sending the pitcher back to Minneapolis so team doctors can take a look at Nolasco’s elbow.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nolasco left Detroit on a flight on Thursday morning, so the Twins won’t have any concrete news until later in the day or into Friday. Manager Paul Molitor said that this injury looks to be unrelated to the forearm tightness that kept Nolasco out for a month last season.
It was noted across Twitter that Nolasco’s velocity was down, but it didn’t go down any further after Nolasco felt the ‘spike’. The spike was felt in the fourth inning when Nolasco was facing Alex Avila.
Nolasco's fastball velocity was down yesterday, averaged 89 mph, but didn't drop off after that AB vs. Avila, when he felt "spike" in elbow.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) April 9, 2015
Nolasco did not tell anyone about the spike until he was pulled from the game.
Molitor also said that is too early to know what this means for Nolasco’s next start which is slated to be the Twins’ home opener on Monday against the reigning American League champion Kansas City Royals.
The Twins rotation is already in shambles after the Ervin Santana suspension. The potential of a Nolasco injury results in a whole lot of money being held for players who aren’t actually playing.
So, to recap, #MNTwins could soon have $104 million worth of rotation help on the shelf (Santana and Nolasco). Not good.
— Mike BerardinoNDI (@MikeBerardino) April 9, 2015
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