Michael Pineda will face his former team when the visiting Detroit Tigers play the Minnesota Twins for the second installment of a three-game series on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
Pineda, 33, pitched for the Twins for three seasons from 2019-21 before signing a free-agent deal with Detroit before the start of this season. The veteran right-hander went 22-13 with a 3.80 ERA in 53 games (52 starts) for Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Despite Pineda’s solid statistics, the Twins opted not to re-sign him during the offseason. Instead, Minnesota reshaped its rotation by adding veterans such as Sonny Gray, Chris Archer, Chris Paddack and Dylan Bundy.<\/p>\n
“It wouldn’t have been a bad thing, that’s for sure,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said, referring to the opportunity to re-sign Pineda. “Mike Pineda did some incredible things for us, pitched a lot of winning ball games for us, whenever we needed him. And he’s an excellent human being to be around. …<\/p>\n
“I trust our process and the way we assemble our group. There were versions of the team that could have included Mike. Obviously, (it) played out this way. I can’t wait to see Mike. I shouldn’t say I’m looking forward to seeing him pitch against us, but I look forward to seeing him in the flesh and see his big smile and hopefully catch up with him a little bit.”<\/p>\n
Pineda (1-0, 0.00 ERA) pitched five scoreless innings in his season debut against the New York Yankees on Thursday. He allowed three hits, walked none and struck out two.<\/p>\n
In five career starts against the Twins, Pineda is 1-1 with a 3.54 ERA.<\/p>\n
The Twins will counter with right-hander Joe Ryan (2-1, 1.69 ERA), who is scheduled to make his fourth start of the season. He has allowed only nine hits in 16 innings this season while also walking five and striking out 16.<\/p>\n
In his most recent start, Ryan tossed six scoreless innings against the Kansas City Royals to earn his second straight win. He allowed two hits, walked one and struck out five.<\/p>\n
This will be Ryan’s second career start against Detroit. He struggled mightily in his first matchup, giving up six runs on six hits in 4 2\/3 innings in September.<\/p>\n
The Tigers hope to bounce back from a gut-wrenching loss in the series opener Tuesday night. They led 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth when catcher Eric Haase committed a throwing error that allowed the tying and winning runs to score.<\/p>\n
The defensive miscue spoiled a terrific night at the plate for Javier Baez, who hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the eighth. Baez finished with four RBIs.<\/p>\n
Detroit will have help in the bullpen after reinstating left-hander Andrew Chafin from the 10-day injured list Tuesday. Chafin, who signed as a free agent with Detroit during the offseason, has yet to pitch this season because of a left groin strain sustained during spring training.<\/p>\n
“I just want to go out there, throw up zeroes and do my job, whatever is asked of me,” Chafin said. “If it’s the fifth inning, ninth inning, I don’t care. I’m just going to get outs.”<\/p>\n
–Field Level Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Michael Pineda will face his former team when the visiting Detroit Tigers play the Minnesota Twins for the second installment of a three-game series on Wednesday night. Pineda, 33, pitched…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":16664,"template":"","news_cat":[4378,59],"class_list":["post-16663","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news_cat-archive","news_cat-mlb"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n