FORT MYERS, Fla. — Blaine Boyer has made the Twins. As an added bonus, he’s even getting a start.
Scheduled starter Kyle Gibson showed up feeling sick today, and the Twins decided to take no chances with the regular season just a week away. Gibson was sent home and the Twins decided to use tonight’s game against the Red Sox to test their bullpen’s ability to pitch two innings.
Boyer will get the start, and it’s not a bad way to celebrate. The 33-year-old righthander, who retired from the game three years ago, was informed by manager Paul Molitor that he has made the team with his outstanding work this spring. Boyer, whose contract was selected by the Twins, has appeared in seven games so far and allowed a run in only one of them. He has posted a spring ERA of 1.69 in 10 2/3 innings.
“I’m super excited,” Boyer said. “As a pitcher, you’ve got to have that confidence that you’re going to do well, but you never know. I’ve seen things go south real quick and nor real quick, and I’m just thankful to the Twins for giving me this opportunity.”
After Boyer’s two-inning stint — he’s never started a regular-season game in the majors, by the way — Brian Duensing will pitch two innings, followed by J.R. Graham and Caleb Thielbar, also two innings apiece. Minor-league pitchers will be used after that, if necessary.
Meanwhile, Josmil Pinto said he felt great after playing four innings in a Class AA game this afternoon. He caught three innings and went to the plate three times, grounding out once and drawing two walks. “It’s good. I’m OK,” Pinto said after he passed his concussion test and was cleared by Major League Baseball to return to action.
Pinto will play in another minor-league game on Tuesday. Does he think he’ll be ready to head to Detroit with the rest of the Twins this weekend? “I hope. I hope,” he said.
Tonight’s game at jetBlue Park will be televised by the MLB Network, and begins at 6 p.m. CDT. Here is the Twins’ lineup:
Santana SS
Dozier 2B
Mauer 1B
Hunter RF
Vargas DH
Plouffe 3B
Arcia LF
Suzuki C
Schafer CF
Boyer RHP, followed by Duensing, Graham, Thielbar.
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La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.
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