Three months after leaving Matt Garza off their Opening Day roster, the Twins brought their No. 1 pitching prospect back to the big leagues Thursday as a reliever and spot starter.
Garza, 23, will be available to pitch out of the bullpen tonight in Detroit, and he's expected to start one game of the doubleheader July 6 in Chicago.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire had spoken of the need to add a reliever for this 10-day, 11-game road trip, but even he seemed surprised after relaying the news from General Manager Terry Ryan.
"Terry and the boys decided that it's time [for Garza]," Gardenhire said. "He's been getting passed up by a lot of people, and it's time for this young man to come up here, and let's see where he's at."
Garza went 4-6 with a 3.62 ERA in 16 starts for the Rochester Red Wings, with 95 strikeouts and 31 walks in 92 innings.
"The feeling is, they want to see him in the big leagues," Gardenhire said.
Garza went 3-5 with a 6.29 ERA in nine starts for the Twins last season. He also made one relief appearance, replacing the injured Francisco Liriano on Sept. 13. That was one of Garza's better outings, as he held Oakland to one run over 5 2/3 innings.
"I don't think confidence is going to be a factor here," Gardenhire said. "I think when you hand Matt the ball, he'll be confident.
"I don't think he's done the bullpen act too much. The big thing is we're going to have to make sure to give him time to get loose. You can't put him out there in the middle of the inning."
To clear room for Garza, the Twins optioned catcher Chris Heintz to Rochester.
In bringing up Garza, the Twins bypassed relievers Carmen Cali and Julio DePaula.
"The reason we brought Matt up is because the Triple-A staff recommended him," Ryan said. "He's doing fine down there."
Morneau returns
After missing five games because of a bruised right lung, Justin Morneau talked his way back into the lineup, as the DH, and went 0-for-3.
"My timing was a little off," he said. "It looked like [A.J. Burnett] was throwing 110 [miles per hour]."
Gardenhire said the plan is to have Morneau DH through the Detroit series.
"As long as I don't get hit or have any contact that same sort of way, [the doctors] said it's not going to get worse," Morneau said, referring to last Friday's home-plate collision with Florida catcher Miguel Olivo.
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