Twins make change to starting rotation ahead of series finale vs. White Sox

After an absolutely brutal start to the season, things seem to finally be turning around for the Minnesota Twins.

On Thursday the Twins will be attempting to pull of their first sweep of the season after having won three straight against the Chicago White Sox. When they do, a new pitcher will be on the mound after Minnsota made some roster changes after a 6-3 win on Wednesday.

Ronny Henriquez was sent down to Triple-A just a few days after he was called up amid another slew of roster changes. The genesis for those moves was sending Louie Varland down, who was lit up in all four of his starts and owned a 9.18 ERA at the time of his demotion.

That move was still a loose end, but the Twins tied it off on Wednesday by calling up Simeon Woods Richardson to join the starting rotation.

Simeon Woods Richardson is starting sooner than we all thought

We all knew that Woods Richardson would be replacing Varland in the starting rotation, but it's happening sooner than expected. He'll be making his second start of the season on Thursday in the series finale against Chicago rather than Friday in the first game of a series out in Anaheim.

Bailey Ober was scheduled to start but he'll get pushed back to the Friday spot originally earmarked for Woods Richardson.

This will mark the second time Woods Richardson is making a start right after getting called up, and here's to hoping it goes just as well.

He was called up to start the second game of a doubleheader in Detroit and turned in the type of bounce back performance the Twins were hoping he'd have. Woods Richardson had made two apperances over the last two seasons but was pretty bad in his last stint back in 2023.

Even his last start in St. Paul before getting called up was a tough one, but he pitched six innings while allowing just two hits and one run in a win against the Tigers. He'll be looking to follow that performance up with another confidence builder, and it'll come against a perfectly horrible team in the White Sox.

Minnesota is entering Thursday's game having won three games in a row for the first time all season.

This is the same team that won the AL Central last year and ended a 19 year postseaso losing streak -- the same team mostly because nothing meaingful was added. Ownership killed the good vibes over the the winter by not investing in the team and isntead slashing payroll by $30 million.

That resulted in a 7-13 start to the season that has only just now started to turn around because the Twins are playing the worst team in baseball. Hopefully this recent winning streak is inspiring the team to turn things around, which is something Woods Richardson is going to try and keep going on Thursday.

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