Twins P Baker expected to miss 2 starts
September 3, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)—Minnesota Twins right-hander Scott Baker(notes) will probably misstwo starts because of tendinitis in his pitching elbow, manager Ron Gardenhiresaid.
Baker lasted just two innings in his start on Thursday night. He had acortisone shot after leaving the game and said on Friday that his elbow alreadyis feeling a little better.
Baker had a cortisone shot in early July to combat the same problem. But hesaid he started feeling discomfort again in the elbow in the first inningagainst Detroit and had to leave after having problems locating his pitches inthe second inning.
“I can deal with the discomfort,” Baker said. “But when it started toaffect my pitches, I wasn’t able to finish them and able to get the ball down.Once that was the case, I wasn’t doing my team any good and I wasn’t doingmyself any good.”
After having to use starters Brian Duensing(notes) and Nick Blackburn(notes) in a13-inning loss to the Tigers on Thursday night, the Twins had to scramble toreshuffle their rotation. They recalled Matt Fox from Triple-A to make his firstcareer start on Friday night against Texas.
Carl Pavano(notes) will start Saturday and Blackburn on Sunday. Kevin Slowey(notes) willbe reinstated from the disabled list in time to start Monday with Duensinggetting backed up to Wednesday.
The Twins also recalled right-handers Rob Delaney and Alex Burnett(notes) fromTriple-A to help an overworked and banged-up bullpen. Gardenhire said MattGuerrier(notes) and Jesse Crain(notes) were unavailable for the series opener against Texasbecause of overuse and setup man Brian Fuentes(notes), whose back locked up on him onTuesday, said he was not available, either.
Outfielder Jason Kubel(notes), who has been out for three days after being hit onthe left wrist by a pitch on Tuesday, had an MRI and X-ray and said neither testrevealed significant damage. Kubel planned to take part in batting practice onSaturday and hoped to be ready to play on Sunday.
“I was really worried about that and our worse fear is if something isbroken in there and we miss him too,” Gardenhire said. “So to hear he’s doingfine, he came out and told me he’s taking swings and is going to take some moreduring the game and may be available to pinch hit tomorrow.”
The Twins did have some good news with the return of Orlando Hudson(notes) and JimThome(notes). Hudson missed the previous two games with an ankle injury and Thome hasnot started this week because of a stiff back.
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