Minnesota reliever Ryan Pressly had a bit of a coming out party Wednesday, tossing four shutout innings to help stem the tide as the Twins held on for a wild 15-8 win over Boston.

Pressly, of course, was a Red Sox farmhand until the Twins scooped him up in the Rule 5 draft last year. And now he’s back to haunt the BoSox, earning his first career win in the process.

How perfect was it that the victory came in his first career appearance at Fenway Park, the stadium he’s been dreaming of pitching in since Boston signed him nearly six years ago?

The effort was not overlooked by Manager Ron Gardenhire: “We got a great pick-us-up by Pressly.”

Given his role — mop up and long relief — Pressly has yet to offer any Fantasy value, and as a Rule 5 dude that has to stick around all year (or else get offered back to Boston), he’s generally unlikely to emerge with much use this season.

But you never know. After all, Pressly suddenly is giving up less than a hit per inning, has not yielded a home run through nine games and 15 2/3 IP of work and has a decent K count of 11. Oh, and there’s that pretty sweet (but highly unsustainable) ERA of 1.72.

The 24-year-old righty, Boston’s 11th rounder in 2007, was shifted to the bullpen late last season after the Sox promoted him to Double-A for the first time. Up until then, he was almost exclusively a starter since turning pro.

Pressly has periodically put up some decent strikeout rates in the minors, but bouts of wildness have been his undoing. Right on cue, his command so far this season has been very spotty (11 K/8 BB). Pressly has a very nice delivery (see below), but has been guilty of leaving too many pitches over the heart of the plate from time to time.

Pressly could represent the next gem in a long line of successful Twins Rule 5 picks, which includes Scott Diamond, Johan Santana, Shane Mack, Gary Wayne, Mark Salas and Doug Corbett.

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