Pablo López and Simeon Woods Richardson make steps toward returning from injured list
López, who has been sidelined since leaving the Twins' game against the Athletics on June 3 in Sacramento due to a right teres major strain, threw 40 pitches in two simulated innings on Friday, facing Edouard Julien, Austin Martin and Ryan Fitzgerald, according to MLB's Pat Donnelly. López was reportedly happy with his outing.
"I hit all the marks while sustaining the velo I had today in the first and second inning; I was anywhere from 93 to 95 [mph]. The pitches were moving the way they were supposed to,” López who had a 2.82 ERA (3.01 FIP) with 61 strikeouts and 14 walks in 60 2/3 innings across 11 starts with Minnesota this season before suffering his injury, said.
Meanwhile, Woods Richardson, who was placed on the 15-day injured list on August 4 (retroactive to August 1) with an illness, made a rehab start for Triple-A St. Paul on Friday, pitching two scoreless innings on 34 pitches with four strikeouts, one hit and one walk.
Friday marked Richardson's first in-game action since July 28. He had a parasite removed from his digestive tract earlier this month.
The Twins are not going to make the playoffs this season, barring a miraculous comeback in the standings; Minnesota trails the Detroit Tigers by 14 games for first place in the American League Central and sits eight games back for the third and final American League Wild Card spot. However, getting López and Richardson, who has a 4.24 ERA (4.71 FIP) with 69 strikeouts and 35 walks in 80 2/3 innings over 17 appearances this season, back gives fans something to be excited about during a dark time for Twins baseball.
Twins aim to avoid series loss against Tigers
After dropping Games 1 and 2 of the four-game set against the Detroit Tigers at Target Field, the Twins are set to play Game 3 of the series at 6:15 p.m. CST on Saturday. Young righty Zebby Matthews is expected to make the start on the mound for Minnesota, and righty Casey Mize is slated to start for Detroit.