Twins call up reliever Josh Staumont, option Alcala

The Minnesota Twins are adding a new arm to the bullpen.

Wednesday, the club called up pitcher Josh Staumont and sent reliever Jorge Alcala back to Triple-A St. Paul.

Staumont, the former Kansas City Royal who joined the Twins in the offseason, started the season on the injured list due to a calf strain and has spent the past few weeks with the Saints, allowing two earned runs over seven innings while striking out 11.

The 30-year-old has appeared in 169 games in his MLB career, all with the Royals, tossing 168.1 innings with a 4.01 ERA while striking out 10.21 per nine innings. Last season, he had a 5.40 ERA across 20 innings, including one start, before he was hurt.

He’ll look to give the bullpen a boost after it gave up eight earned runs in Tuesday’s loss to Seattle. He’ll be making his Twins debut when he gets into a game.

Alcala was recalled late last week and made two appearances during his most recent stint with the Twins. He allowed three baserunners but no runs in 0.2 innings on May 4, then gave up four hits, two walks and four runs Tuesday night against Seattle. That moved his season stat line with the Twins to a 3.27 ERA over 11 innings, with six walks and 10 strikeouts.