The Twins talked up their rotation depth all spring, feeling confident in options such as David Festa and Zebby Matthews lined up in Triple-A, ready to fill in behind their starting five.

Now, they’re getting a chance to see that depth.

Friday was a day the Twins had targeted for a Festa start with the team mired in the middle of a stretch of 12 games in 12 days. And it seems as if the Twins could get a look at Matthews in the coming days, too.

Festa was officially added to the roster on Friday when the Twins placed their ace Pablo López on the injured list with a hamstring strain. Festa threw 4 2/3 innings against the Detroit Tigers, giving up three hits and just one unearned run in his outing.

The move allows them to push all of their starters back a day for some extra rest. Simeon Woods Richardson, for example, is coming off a start in which he threw a career-high 107 pitches.

“Early on every season, when we look at the schedule, we will look at possible things that we could do,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “And then the season has to unfold, and you see just where everyone sits, what the pitchers are doing, what their workloads are and things like that.

“It was seemingly a good time to get David in there. You have to line it up. You’ve got to line it up at Triple-A. You’ve got to make sure you have it but we had it ready to go.”

With Festa pitching in Friday’s game against the Tigers, the most likely option for López’s spot would be inserting Matthews in for a start or two. Matthews last pitched Tuesday for the Saints, the same day as López’s start in Kansas City. His turn in the rotation is coming up on Monday.

Matthews looked particularly impressive in spring and at the beginning of the Triple-A season, showing off an increase in his velocity. Like Festa, Matthews made his MLB debut last season after rising quickly through the Twins’ minor league system. He posted a 6.69 earned-run average in nine starts after joining the rotation late last year.

López, who landed on the injured list for the first time as a Twin, is hopeful that his stay on the IL will be kept to a minimum. He was long tossing pregame at Target Field on Friday to keep his arm active.

New threads

The Twins debuted their latest City Connect look on Friday, pairing white pants with yellow and blue piping down the leg. It’s the first time they’ve worn white pants with their lake-themed City Connects. Previously, the Twins have worn blue tops with blue pants, which drew mixed reviews when it was unveiled last year.

Briefly

Byron Buxton returned to the Twins’ lineup on Friday after missing the previous two games. He had left the team briefly because of a personal matter. … Utility man Austin Martin, who departed Thursday’s Triple-A game early, was placed on the injured list with a hamstring strain, eliminating a potential depth option for the time being. Martin was off to a strong start to the season, hitting .419 with a .978 OPS.