“Very Mild” Pablo Lopez Injury Worse Than MN Twins First Thought

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Pablo Lopez - Minnesota Twins
Credit: Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Minnesota Twins got back in the win column on Wednesday night, a victory they desperately needed. Now 4-8, they’ll attempt to split this week’s four-game series in Kansas City before hopping on a plane and jetting back to Minneapolis for a six-game homestand that will start on Friday against Detroit.

Unfortunately, the Twins will not have their ace starting pitcher for his regularly scheduled turns through the rotation, the first of which was scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Pablo Lopez left his latest start (Tuesday) in the 5th inning, due what was then diagnosed as a “mild” right hamstring strain.

After the game, when asked for an update on his No. 1 starter, Rocco Baldelli described Lopez’ hamstring injury as “very mild”. At the time, the Twins manager made it very clear that he and the training staff had no plans to place the 29-year-old Venezuelan on injured reserve or make any changes to the starting rotation.

Pablo Lopez heading to Minnesota Twins injured list

That was until they saw Pablo Lopez’ MRI results the next day. Whatever that test revealed was not what the MN Twins were expecting. Because just 24 hours after Rocco assured media and fans that the veteran starter’s injury was “very mild”, it no appears the hamstring strain is worse than initially thought.

Related: New Day, New Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Injured

According to Dan Hayes (The Athletic), Lopez is expected to be placed on the 15 day injured list. After he misses those three starts, the Twins “hope” Pablo will be ready to return to the rotation. Of course, given how injury absences tend to be elongated with the Falvey + Baldelli regime, fans should probably hope with caution.

Before going on the injured list, Pablo Lopez had gotten his ERA all the way down to 1.68 over 16.2 innings pitched. After giving up 4 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings vs the St. Louis Cardinals on Opening Day, the MN Twins ace had allowed just 2 runs on 7 hits over his next 11.2 innings, before removing himself from Wednesday’s start.

Zebby Mathews likely to replace Lopez in Twins rotation

There is a little bit of good news that comes with Pablo’s trip to the injured list. We’ll likely get our first chance to see Zebby Matthews pitch in a Minnesota Twins uniform this season. In his big league debut last summer, the 24-year-old Matthews struggled to find his groove, throwing 37.2 innings with a 6.69 ERA, 1.65 WHIP and 5.71 FIP.

But after two starts with St. Paul to start 2025, Zebby appears determined to get back to the MLB and stay there. Matthews has thrown 10 innings, allowing 2 runs (1.80 ERA) on 2 hits and 1 walk (0.60 WHIP), racking up 13 strikeouts in the process.

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