López carried a shutout into the seventh inning before the Guardians finally broke through when he launched an ill-advised throw down the first-base line on Carlos Santana’s infield single, which allowed José Ramírez to scamper home on the play. He was charged with an additional run when Brock Stewart coughed up a three-run homer following his departure. He struck out six and didn’t hand out a free pass, but was still saddled with a loss in this one. He’ll bring a sparkling 2.25 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 26/4 K/BB ratio across 28 innings (five starts) into a home matchup on Tuesday against the Orioles.

The 29-year-old right-hander piled up six strikeouts on the night while issuing a pair of walks. He needed 101 pitches to get through his five innings, but with a seven-run advantage he may have called it a night after five frames anyways. The damage done against him came on an RBI single by Jo Adell in the second inning and an RBI knock by Mike Trout in the fifth. López got 11 swings and misses on the night, registering a CSW of 28 percent. Now 2-1 on the season, he’ll carry a pristine 2.08 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and a 20/4 K/BB ratio (21 2/3 innings) into Wednesday’s battle against the Guardians in Cleveland.

López, 29, is back to make a start Friday against the Angels. He ended up missing three-plus weeks with his hamstring strain, and because he hasn’t been stretched out beyond 90 pitches, there’s a chance he isn’t available for a “normal” outing for Friday. Just something to be cognizant of before placing López in your fantasy lineup.

The Twins are rolling with Chris Paddack for Thursday’s series finale against the White Sox, which pushes López’s return to some point during a three-game series this weekend against the Angels. There’s a strong possibility he gets the ball for Friday’s series opener, but that’s not official yet.