Pedro Hernandez showed up for work today with his left calf feeling much better. So it was off to Class AAA Rochester for him, since he was expected to be sent down to make room for the return of Scott Diamond today.
Not so fast.
Hernandez is staying. Righthander Liam Hendriks is being optioned to Rochester to make room for Diamond. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Hendriks threw better in his last outing but needs to be more consistent.
Odds are that Hendriks will pitch well there. He's 13-7 with a 2.95 ERA there. What he has to do is work on the things that will make him successful in the majors.
It's a good reflection on Hernandez, who seems to be around the plate and mixes his pitches well. He now gets to face his former team, the White Sox, next weekend when the Twins head there for a three-game series.
Down the road, Hernandez looks like someone who could stick around as another lefty in the bullpen if Kyle Gibson figures it out at Rochester or Samuel Deduno gets locked in after battling a sore groin muscle.
The Twins are in the process of figuring out where Hernandez will land in the rotation. There's talk of moving Vance Worley up in the rotation to Tuesday since he only threw 57 pitches on Friday.
Will post lineups in a couple minutes.
