Fernando Romero felt he was making incremental progress in his drive to establish himself as a major league starter.
"I've been getting more experience, feeling comfy," he said.
But his next lesson will come at Class AAA Rochester, as the Twins sent him down after Saturday's 9-6 loss to Texas to call up reliever Alan Busenitz to prop up a beleaguered bullpen. Romero is 3-3 with a 4.38 ERA in 10 big-league starts, showing a big arm that should be part of the Twins' immediate future. In 51⅓ innings, he walked 19 and struck out 44.
"There's been a lot of good things for him," manager Paul Molitor said. "A young man who's still learning how to use his skills at the best level up here and learning control of the game."
Busenitz has a 1.95 ERA for the Red Wings and recently had a scoreless streak of 21⅓ innings. He hasn't appeared in a game since Wednesday.
Now the Twins need a starter for Thursday's game against the White Sox in Chicago. Righthander Aaron Slegers (5-4, 3.28 ERA at Rochester) is in line to pitch that day. Because of Monday's off day, the Twins could pitch Jake Odorizzi in that spot and move Jose Berrios to Friday. Then the Twins would need a starter Saturday against the Cubs, but it seems unlikely they would trot out a minor league call-up to pitch at Wrigley Field.
Eventually, that spot in the rotation will go back to Romero, once the 23-year-old is ready.
"I mean, there's no sorry, just something that happens in baseball," he said. "At some point you're not waiting for it, but all you have to do is handle the situation and get back to work. I'll be back as soon as possible."