Twins to lose Pablo López to injured list; top prospect Walker Jenkins on IL

KANSAS CITY, MO. – During a rough start to the season for the Twins pitching staff, they will have to navigate the next two weeks without the ace of their staff.

Pablo López underwent a magnetic resonance imaging exam Wednesday, which confirmed a Grade 1 hamstring strain. After Wednesday’s 4-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals, manager Rocco Baldelli confirmed López is likely headed to the 15-day injured list.

“We think it’s possible that’s it a minimum stay or pretty close to a minimum stay [on the IL] with the extent of it,” Baldelli said. “It doesn’t seem too major, but obviously we won’t know until we get to that point.”

López exited in the fifth inning Tuesday after he felt tightness in his hamstring on his last three pitches. He’s started 32 games in each of the past three seasons, and this will be the first time he has been put on the IL since 2021.

“I had to be persuaded and think logically about it,” López said. “When I first went through the emotional, passionate filter, like: ‘There is no way. I want to pitch. I can do it.’ After we went through that filter, we went over the logical-thinking filter, which I like to think of myself as a logical-thinking person. This early in the season, it would be a pretty big risk to go out there and try to pitch in five or six days.

“I know I would have it in the back of my mind, being like: ‘Hey, is it going to show up? Is it not going to show up?’ It makes sense to back up a little bit.”

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Baldelli didn’t want to speculate on a potential callup before López is formally put on the IL, but Zebby Matthews is an obvious candidate.

Matthews pitched at Class AAA on Tuesday, so he would be on regular rest. He yielded four hits and two runs in five innings, striking out nine as he averaged 97 mph with his fastball. He stood out all spring training pitching with an uptick in velocity, tossing 9⅔ scoreless innings during Grapefruit League games.

Walker Jenkins, the top-rated prospect in the Twins’ farm system, was put on the 7-day injured list at Class AA Wichita on Wednesday with a left ankle sprain.

Jenkins, 20, was slowed by his sprained ankle during spring training, an injury he initially sustained jumping for a ball. He played two games at Wichita, both as a designated hitter, and he totaled one hit in eight at-bats with two strikeouts.

He is the third-youngest player in the Class AA Texas League. Jenkins, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 MLB amateur draft, was limited to 82 games last year because of a left hamstring strain.

When DaShawn Keirsey Jr. made the Twins roster at the end of spring training, Baldelli was clear about the role he was filling.

Keirsey, on the team as a pinch runner and defensive replacement, received his first start of the season Wednesday. He went hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts.

“It’s definitely a learning process,” said Keirsey, who logged 505 plate appearances at Class AAA last year. “It’s a transition, but it’s something I’m taking and running with, so to speak, on trying to be the best sixth man in baseball right now.”

Keirsey credited Ty France for giving him advice on handling the role.

“We were talking and when he first came up, he was in that role where he’d platoon and come off the bench,” Keirsey said. “He gave me some things that helped him out. Even [Carlos] Correa, talking to him, he’s been in the league for so long. Things he’s seen guys in that position do who had success.”

* The Twins will unveil their Joe Mauer statue outside Target Field at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, ahead of their home game against Detroit. Mauer is joining Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Carl and Eloise Pohlad, Tony Oliva, Kent Hrbek and Tom Kelly with a bronze statue at the ballpark.

* Andrew Morris pitched five scoreless innings and Jair Camargo and Carson McCusker homered in St. Paul’s 3-2 win over Omaha on Wednesday night at CHS Field.