Jose Mijares joined the Twins Friday at the Metrodome, completing the addition of the club's September call-ups. Mijares joined the team from Class AA New Britain, and his addition to the major league roster was the most improbable of all the minor league reinforcements.
Using teammate Dennys Reyes as his interpreter, Mijares said he never expected to make it to the big leagues this season after a January car accident left him with a broken pitching elbow and injured pitching shoulder. "Definitely after what happened, to make it to the big leagues is a big step for him," Reyes relayed. "He never think he was going to make it this year. It never went through his mind."
Mijares fell asleep at the wheel while driving in Maracay, Venezuela, and his car rammed into a concrete wall. The only injuries he sustained, he said, were to his pitching arm.
"He was scared that he wasn't going to be able to pitch anymore," Reyes translated. "After he got the surgery, the doctor told him he was going to pitch. It was scary at the beginning throwing, with the surgery, afraid of breaking it again, but he was able to get over that."
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he is unsure how he will use Mijares during the hard-throwing lefty's stint in the majors. That's because Mijares' accident forced him to miss what would have been his first big-league spring training, so Gardenhire on Friday was yet to see him throw.
TWINS 10, TIGERS 2: Francisco Liriano struck out a season-high nine batters and walked just one and Justin Morneau added a grand slam in the fifth as the Twins improved to 47-23 at home.
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