Chris Paddack started 21 games for Minnesota this season. The 29-year-old right-hander will now look to shut down the Twins when the Detroit Tigers host his former team on Tuesday night.
Paddack (4-9, 4.77 ERA) dealt to Detroit early last week at the beginning of the Twins’ fire sale before the trade deadline. Paddack won his Tigers debut against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
“One of the first things I did when I got traded over here was to look at the schedule,” Paddack said, according to the Detroit News. “I started doing the math and saw I get to face my former teammates — the bad guys, which is what I’m calling them — in my second start as a Tiger.
“Definitely going to be a lot of mixed emotions out there. … I’ve faced former teammates before in my career, but not a week after leaving a clubhouse.”
Paddack, who began his career with the San Diego Padres, struggled for much of the season but posted a quality outing in his Minnesota finale. He held the Los Angeles Dodgers to one run in six innings on July 23, then duplicated that feat against the Diamondbacks.
He suddenly finds himself on the runaway leader in the American League Central, and it’s given him a mental boost.
“I’m very blessed to be given the opportunity to be a Tiger,” he said ahead of his first career start vs. Minnesota. “We’ve got a young, hungry group that did some really special things last year and they came short on their goal. We’re not going to come up short this year.”
The Tigers were motivated to acquire a starting pitcher after Reese Olson sustained a shoulder injury that will keep him out for the rest of the regular season.
Paddack said of Minnesota’s decision to become aggressive sellers, “Not to get too in-depth with it, that’s more on the business side, but they are in the process of selling the team, so it was just a tough spot as a player. We started out the season kind of up and down, and unfortunately it just didn’t come together.”
Right-hander Zebby Matthews (2-3, 5.67) will make his eighth start of the year for the Twins. He tossed six scoreless innings against the Washington Nationals on July 25, but his latest outing didn’t go well. Matthews allowed five runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
“I just left some pitches up and I thought they put some good swings on them. They deserve credit for how they swung the bats,” Matthews said. “I just didn’t quite execute pitches. Can’t make it easy when they’re swinging the bats that way.”
He will be facing the Tigers for the first time.
The first game of the series on Monday featured three homers from each side. Kerry Carpenter had the decisive blow, a two-run shot in the sixth, helping the Tigers capture the series opener 6-3.
Twins rookie infielder Luke Keaschall, who has been sidelined since late April with a broken right forearm, is expected to rejoin the club on Tuesday. Keaschall batted .368 (7-for-19) with five walks in seven games prior to the injury.