Pitcher Zebi Matthews warms up during a Fort Myers Mighty Mussels practice Tuesday, April 4, 2023, at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. Zebby Matthews was getting ready for bullpen session for Triple-A St. Pauls on Sunday when his manager Toby Gardenhire called an impromptu team meeting.
This is very unusual. Matthews wondered what the purpose of the meeting was.
“I knew something was wrong,” Matthews said, “but honestly, I didn’t know what was going on.”
Gardenhire began the meeting by describing the team’s upcoming road trip plans to Indianapolis. He then told the group that Matthews would not be joining them. Instead, Gardenhire said, the Minnesota Twins promoted Matthews to the major leagues to fulfill a lifelong dream.
Matthews will make his major league debut on Tuesday when the Twins face the Kansas City Royals in Minneapolis.
The 24-year-old quickly developed through the Twins’ farm system, starting the season at Class-A Cedar Rapids and advancing to Double-A Wichita and Triple-A before the Twins called him up to join the rotation. A-level team.
Matthews said about 20 friends and family will attend his debut. No one, including those closest to him, could have predicted that he would rise from the lower minor leagues to the majors in a matter of months.
“I mean, most of them were shocked,” said Matthews, who called his family to share the news. “It’s like, ‘Oh my God, this is already happening?’ Because where I started, they were all excited for me.
The Twins defeated the Royals 8-3 in Monday night’s series opener and will be looking for back-to-back wins over the Royals. Willi Castro hit a three-run homer and Royce Lewis hit a two-run homer in the win, but Minnesota also lost Byron to hip discomfort. Byron Buxton left early.
The Twins said Buxton’s condition is day-to-day.
Kansas City, meanwhile, hopes to split the series at one win and spark a decisive showdown in Wednesday’s series finale. Bobby Witt Jr. hit a home run on Monday, but the Royals gave up six runs in the second inning and fell to 2-6 against Minnesota on the season.
Witt was also hit in the left forearm by the ball but remained in the game.
“I think the loss hurts more than pitch-by-pitch,” he said.
Royals right-hander Seth Lugo (13-6, 2.72 ERA) will make his 25th start of the season on Tuesday. Lugo will be looking to bounce back from his Aug. 6 outing against the Boston Red Sox, when he allowed six runs (4 ERA) on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He also walked four times and fanned four times.
In six career games (four starts) against the Twins, Lugo is 1-0 with a 1.73 ERA. Two of those starts came this year, with Lugo going 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA and allowing just one run in 12 innings.
Michael Messi is back in the Royals lineup for the series opener after injuring back tightness on Saturday and missing Sunday. Messi served as the designated hitter on Monday and went 0-for-5.
If Buxton is unable to play for the Twins, Manuel Maggot is an option to take his spot in the lineup. On Monday, Margot replaced Buxton and hit a sacrifice fly for her 27th RBI of the season.
As of late Monday night, Minnesota had not announced a starting pitcher for Tuesday.
–Scene-level media
