Twins dip into minors for Garza

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — With Francisco Liriano’s pitching arm still bothering him, the Minnesota Twins purchased the contract of right-hander Matt Garza from Triple-A Rochester Tuesday.

Garza, the team’s first-round draft pick in 2005, has made a fast rise through the minors, dominating at every stop. He was 3-1 with a 1.85 ERA and 33 strikeouts in five starts for the Red Wings. In his minor league career, Garza is 18-8 with a 2.73 ERA and 243 strikeouts in 37 starts.

Garza began the season with the Fort Myers Miracle in the Class A Florida State League. He went 5-1 with a 1.42 ERA and 53 strikeouts over 44 1/3 innings (eight games) for the Miracle. At Double-A New Britain he was 6-2 with a 2.51 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 10 starts before being promoted to Rochester.

The Twins long have believed in not rushing young arms to the big leagues, but the move with Garza became necessary when Liriano, a contender for the Cy Young Award in the AL, continued to feel pain in his left arm after his start Monday in Detroit.

Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire called it “a muscular problem” and said Liriano would be checked out by team doctors after the Twins return to Minneapolis Wednesday. The pitcher has not been put on the disabled list, but such a move would be a crippling blow to the team’s playoff chances.

To make room for Garza, who joined the team for Tuesday night’s game against the Tigers, the Twins optioned right-hander Mike Smith to Rochester. Smith gave up four earned runs in three innings of his only start for the Twins.

The back end of the rotation has been a trouble spot for the Twins all season, and Garza is the latest candidate to try and shore it up. Scott Baker, Boof Bonser, Kyle Lohse, Carlos Silva and Smith all have been unable to provide consistency to the rotation.