MINNEAPOLIS -- Twins right-hander Pablo López, who was diagnosed with a Grade 1 right hamstring strain, was placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Wednesday. To replace López on the roster, the club recalled David Festa, who will start Friday's game against the Tigers, from Triple-A St. Paul.

López sustained the injury in Tuesday night’s loss to the Royals. He had held out some hope that he might avoid an IL stint and make his next start in five days at home against the Tigers, but it was decided not to push him.

“I take it as good news, the severity of it,” López said. “I take it as bad news because it's probably going to land me on the 15-day IL. I had to be persuaded and think logically about it. … This early in the season, it would be a pretty big risk to go out there and try to pitch in five or six days.”

The hope is that López will not miss more than the minimum 15 days.

“Reasonably speaking, we’re kind of measuring this thing out -- we think it’s possible that it’s a minimum stay or pretty close to a minimum stay with the extent of it,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “Which doesn’t seem too major, but obviously we won’t know that till we get there, till the time we get to that point.”