Lester Oliveros, Part of Delmon Young Deal, Shines in Minnesota Twins Debut

Lester Oliveros’ Minnesota Twins debut was the silver lining in an 8-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday.

Oliveros entered the game in the third inning with a man on first and the team down 7-0. However, he got outfielder Nolan Reimold to ground into a double play and struck out Adam Jones to end the inning.

“[I] just tried to get a ground ball to get a double play,” Oliveros said in a thick Venezuelan accent. “It felt pretty good. First game [with Minnesota] was pretty exciting.”

Oliveros topped out at 98 MPH on the radar, something he said he’s done in previous outings in the minor leagues.

“It was pretty hot, I was pretty excited,” he said. “Might have been the adrenaline.”

He pitched well, producing a one-two-three fourth inning.

However, in the fifth inning Oliveros ran into trouble when he left an 0-2 slider up in the zone against Baltimore slugger Mark Reynolds with a men on first and second. Reynolds singled, allowing Matt Wieters to score.

“That one bad pitch…[he] tried to throw a hard slider,” said manager Ron Gardenhire, who was pleased with the first two fastballs he threw to work Reynolds into a pitcher’s count. “[He] got it out and over. I think he was mad at himself for that one.”

Otherwise, the skipper was pleased with his new pitcher.

“He threw the ball great,” Gardenhire said. “The ball came out of his hand real well.”

Oliveros had only thrown one multiple-inning outing this season. However, he was not surprised that he was asked to pitch the fifth.

“I knew I was coming in early in the game,” he said. “I knew I was going to throw two, three innings.”

“As usual, when you’re going to your bullpen that early in the ballgame you have to force the issue,” said Gardenhire, whose bullpen was already depleted after starter Nick Blackburn left with injury in the second inning of his start against the Yankees.

“We didn’t want him to throw that many pitches, but he handled it very well.”

The 26-year-old pitcher was acquired as the player to be named later in the Twins’ August 16 trade for Delmon Young.

Twins GM Bill Smith has come under fire for recent trades of Johan Santana to the Mets and Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to the Rays.

The best player from the Santana trade, Carlos Gomez (Brewers), is no longer with the Twins.

Brendan Harris (Orioles) and Delmon Young (Tigers), who came over from Tampa in the Young deal, have not made the same impact Matt Garza (Cubs) and Jason Bartlett (Padres) did for the Rays following the trade.

Young, the first overall pick in 2003, never lived up to his potential in Minnesota and was picked up on waivers by Detroit.

Perhaps the Twins will benefit from his departure.

Oliveros’ first appearance indicates he could become a reliable pitcher in the future.

Tom Schreier is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained firsthand or from official interview materials from the Minnesota Twins.

Follow him @tschreier3.