Twins lose ace Pablo Lopez for months in crushing injury blow

Minnesota will likely be in the market for a starting pitcher.

The Twins announced Wednesday that ace Pablo López will miss the next eight to 12 weeks with a teres major muscle strain in his throwing shoulder.

López is off to a strong start, pitching to a 2.82 ERA and a 5-3 record for the 34-27 Twins.

The Grade 2 shoulder strain for López sets him up for an August return as a best-case scenario.

The righty felt something was off while warming up for the sixth inning during his Tuesday start against the Athletics in a 10-3 win.

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He pitched five innings and allowed two runs on four hits before departing after just 72 pitches.

The team initially labeled his injury as shoulder tightness, and Lopez said he felt the injury after a long top half of the sixth inning in which Minnesota scored four runs.

“I tried to stay loose — we had a long inning,” Lopez said, per Reuters. “Then I went out there and made my three warmup pitches [before the sixth] low-to-mid intensity, and I felt the same thing. If it felt that way, then if I try to make a max-effort throw to get the inning started, you wonder what could happen.”

Pablo Lopez pulled himself out of the game with an injury after one warmup pitch before the 6th inning

Manager Rocco Baldelli expressed optimism that Lopez’s season is not at risk.

“I truly believe he’s going to be out there pitching for us, probably not at the very end of the year,” Baldelli said. “We’re talking like he’ll be able to pitch significantly for us this year.”

The Twins’ rotation has been in flux this season as they work fit top prospect Zebby Matthews into their depth chart.

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With Matthews coming off his best start in his young career Wednesday, throwing five innings of one-run ball in a 6-1 win, expect him to stick in the rotation while Triple-A prospect David Festa is called back to the big leagues.

Festa had previously been in the majors and looked excellent in three starts, with a 1.38 ERA in 13 innings (15 strikeouts).

If Festa, Matthews, or third starter Chris Paddack falter in their extended look in the rotation, the Twins will likely look to bring in a pitcher at the trade deadline.

The Post’s Joel Sherman recently reported who he suspects could be sellers at the deadline, with those potential arms that could be on the move including Rangers starters Tyler Mahle, Patrick Corbin, Jon Gray and possibly even Jacob deGrom, among many others.

Minnesota is 29-15 since starting the season 5-12 and occupies the first AL wild-card spot.