BOSTON — When Yohan Pino takes the mound for the Twins on Thursday night, he won’t just be making his big-league debut.

He’ll be making franchise history.

At 30 years, 175 days, the right-hander will be the first 30-plus starter to make his debut for Twins/Senators in 70 years. The last was right-hander Arnold Joseph “Jug” Thesenga, who was 30 years, 127 days when he made his debut at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 1, 1944, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Thesenga, who was born in Jefferson, S.D., lasted five innings in a 10-7 Senators victory but received no decision after giving up eight walks, five hits and two earned runs with one strikeout. Thesenga, who would make four additional relief outings that September during World War II, never pitched again after that season.

“I’m thrilled,” said Twins catcher Eric Fryer, who caught Pino several times at Triple-A Rochester. “I didn’t know this was going to be his debut. Just the way he pitched and the way he carried himself on the mound, I just assumed he had some (big-league) time somewhere.

“I’m really happy that his hard work is paying off and it’s getting noticed and he gets a shot to come up here and see what he can do.”

Pino, with nearly 1,200 career innings in the minors, is 9-1 and ranks second in the International League with a 1.92 earned-run average. Pino, signed this winter as a minor-league free agent after a strong showing in the Venezuelan Winter League, also ranks second in WHIP (0.93), sixth in strikeout rate (9.00 per nine innings) and ninth in walk rate (2.36 per nine).

“He knows how to pitch,” Fryer said. “He reads hitters really well. He sees if they’re opening up, diving in, whatever they’re doing. Smart guy. He doesn’t try to do too much for the most part.”

It was Pino, along with countryman Deolis Guerra, who shared their “pitchfork” changeup grip with top Twins pitching prospect Alex Meyer and helped him go on the best run of his career thus far.

“He’s going to teach the game a little bit,” Fryer said of Pino. “That’s the good thing. He’s a student of the game and he’s not afraid to share the information that he knows with other pitchers to help them succeed also.”

Follow Mike Berardino at twitter.com/MikeBerardino.