When the Minnesota Twins placed starter Chris Paddock on the 15-day disabled list earlier this week it meant opportunity for younger pitchers in the organization. They chose Verona native David Festa. Like Jerry Garcia used to tell us, “One man gathers what another man spills.”
The lanky 24-year-old has been pitching this season for the Twins AAA affiliate, the St. Paul Saints. His stat line has been impressive, with a 3-2 record, 3.77 ERA, 13.12 K/9, and 3.62 BB/9. While his family looked on from the bleachers in Phoenix and hometown fans gathered at the Verona Inn, Festa took the mound Thursday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks. While Festa did falter a bit, it was a great debut and his offense gave him a boost by putting up 13 runs, six of them came in the second inning.
Festa breezed through innings 1, 2 and 3, sitting down nine of 10 batters and allowing only one walk. At the start of inning 4, AZ second baseman, Ketel Marte, connected for a solo HR to right center. Marte is the leading vote recipient for the NL All-Star Team at second base and this was his 17th HR of the season. Festa then struck out the next two batters before allowing five straight singles. While AZ was making contact, not all of it was solid. Nonetheless, the baseball found open spots and AZ was able to plate four runs. In the top of the fifth, Marte stepped to the plate again and connected once more, this time for a double to center. Maybe this is the beginning of a fierce Festa/Marte rivalry that we can watch for years. Following Marte, Festa induced three straight ground-ball outs. Marte was able to score that inning for AZ’s fifth run and that was the end of the day for David Festa’s debut in the MLB.
His final stat line was five innings, seven hits, five runs, five earned runs, two Ks and one BB with a pitch count of 78. Because Paddock is projected to be out for a few weeks, Festa may have the opportunity to make three to four starts during this call-up. The next would likely happen in the Detroit series from July 2 to 4 at Target Field in Minneapolis.
“We would like to thank everyone in the community for the unbelievable support,” Festa’s father Peter said Friday morning. “We are speechless as to how great everyone has been.”
Native Minnesotan Steve Penz is a life-long Twins fan. He is also the cousin of MyVeronaNJ.com’s editor, Virginia Citrano, and thinks that the VI should make the Jersey Burger a permanent menu item.
