Twins' Zebby Matthews: Dazzles in rehab start

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Matthews (shoulder) struck out nine and and allowed no hits and one walk over four shutout innings Sunday in his rehab start for Triple-A St. Paul.

Pitching in a game setting for the first time since June 4, Matthews was about as sharp as the Twins could have hoped. The right-hander showed no signs of being limited by the moderate subscapularis strain that has kept him on the shelf for more than a month, as he needed just 56 pitches to record his 12 outs while flashing a fastball that topped out at around 97 to 98 miles per hour. Though Matthews isn't yet fully stretched out for a typical starter's workload, the Twins could nonetheless be willing to bring him back from the injured list for the first turn through the rotation coming out of the All-Star break. Matthews went 1-1 with a 5.21 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 25:8 K:BB in 19 innings over his first four starts of the season for Minnesota before landing on the shelf.