With Pablo López hurt, David Festa arrives for next major league opportunity

WEST SACRAMENTO David Festa went to sleep on Tuesday night with the intention of being well-rested for his start Wednesday night for the Triple-A St Paul Saints And apparently he slept so soundly that not even phone calls from six or seven different people within the Twins organization trying to reach him could wake him Festa wasn t woken from his slumber until particular time in the o clock hour when director of performer improvement Drew MacPhail was banging on his apartment door I figured my car was parked illegally or something Festa noted of the door knocking But it was Drew MacPhail had certain good news for him personally he was headed back to the big leagues and had a flight to Sacramento in just a couple hours Of subject Festa s opportunity came at the expense of Twins ace Pablo L pez who left his start against the Athletics a night earlier with what the Twins announced Tuesday was a right lat strain L pez went for magnetic resonance imaging on Wednesday and the Twins expected to have more information on the severity of the injury later in the day But at the very least L pez appears headed to the injured list and Festa figures to slot into the rotation on Thursday As of Thursday afternoon Festa was still on the taxi squad and the Twins had not stated their intentions for his start For Festa it s another opportunity to prove to the Twins what he can do after a good three-start performance in the big leagues earlier this year when L pez was out with a hamstring strain In those April starts Festa gave up three earned runs across innings pitched He then returned to the minor leagues and dealt with a few inflammation in what he called his bicep shoulder area forcing him to miss a couple starts It wasn t something I demanded to do but I knew it was the smarter way to go about it just so it didn t become a longer issue Festa explained The training staff did a great job down there of getting me back as soon as achievable My last two outings I ve felt good And the results have been good too He s been throwing the sinker that he started working on this winter a lot more and is pleased with the feel he has for the pitch and how it has progressed The last month or so I ve been really working on that and now it s one of my competent pitches to both sides of the plate and I think it s helped with my overall results Festa disclosed And now he ll have a chance to see it against major league hitters Obviously I m bummed for Pablo and hoping everything is OK he disclosed I thought I ve been doing a pretty good job my last sparse outings and I m looking forward to build off that Correa scratched About an hour and a half before Wednesday s meeting was scheduled to start the Twins officially declared that shortstop Carlos Correa was scratched with back tightness He was replaced in the lineup by Brooks Lee Correa is often doing maintenance to keep his back feeling good He has a history of back issues twice landing on the injured list for his back though the last time that happened was in when he was still with the Houston Astros Briefly Matt Wallner was not in the starting lineup for the second straight day because of the opposing lefty the Twins were facing Notably fellow lefty Trevor Larnach started both of those games and manager Rocco Baldelli praised how Larnach has looked in his at-bats against southpaws He s earning the opportunities because he s looked that good Baldelli stated Infielder Tanner Schobel the Twins second-round pick in was promoted to Triple-A on Wednesday after slashing in games at Double-A Wichita this year Related Articles Twins beat Athletics but lose pitcher Pablo L pez to injury Twins closer Jhoan Duran s May performance honored with monthly award Joe Ryan does escape act Byron Buxton drives in five in Twins win Twins third baseman Royce Lewis remains positive as he works through slump Long-time Mariner Ty France finds good fit in Minnesota