As posted here earlier, Kevin Slowey is having surgery on his right wrist and is done for the season. The Twins don’t have a date yet for the surgery, but Manager Ron Gardenhire confirmed Slowey’s comments from earlier.

“He’ll be gone for the rest of this year and should be ready for spring training,” Gardenhire said. “Yes, it’s disappointing. It’s a tough break because he’s throwing the ball very, very well for us. But on the flip side, we finally know exactly what we’re going to do here, and that’s very important. It’s a young arm with a very good future and we want to make sure we don’t do anything silly here.”

Gardenhire added: “It’s a tough break. Our depth is not where we want it to be anyway, and now there’s a little bit more of it, gone.”

Does this ramp up pressure on the Twins to trade for a pitcher? That’s not Gardenhire’s department. I’ll have more on some trade rumblings in our first editions.

(*) Joe Crede tested his right shoulder in batting practice and fielded grounders with some throws across the infield. Gardy said Crede might DH on Tuesday against LHP Mark Buehrle, as the Twins try to ease Crede back slowly.

Update: Jose Mijares is available in the bullpen tonight after going to the hospital Sunday with dehydration. “No more Red Bull,” Gardenhire said.

WHITE SOX (51-48)

1. Scott Podsednik, CF
2. Alexei Ramirez, SS
3. Jermaine Dye, RF
4. Paul Konerko, 1B
5. A.J. Pierzynski, C
6. Carlos Quentin, LF
7. Gordon Beckham, 3B
8. Jayson Nix, 2B
9. Josh Fields, DH

Starting pitcher: LH John Danks (8-6, 3.98 ERA)

TWINS (49-50)

1. Denard Span, LF
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Michael Cuddyer, RF
5. Jason Kubel, DH
6. Brendan Harris, 3B
7. Carlos Gomez, CF
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Alexi Casilla, 2B

Starting pitcher: LH Glen Perkins (5-6, 5.55)

Metrodome. First pitch: 7:10 p.m. TV: FSN

Twins pitcher Kevin Slowey said today that he he will have surgery on his right wrist, and is likely done for the season.

Slowey, 25, is 10-3 with a 4.86 ERA this season and has been on the disabled list since July 4. He has been trying to rehab the injury without surgery but said he talked to the team’s medical staff about season-ending surgery today.

Slowey plans to go to Baltimore and have a specialist, Dr. Thomas Graham, perform the surgery. Slowey said the recovery time is two to four months.

“It’s difficult,” Slowey said. “I’ll continue to be here and hang out with the guys and do everything I can to get back as soon as possible. I think the most important thing for me is to get ready for next year now, to get this done and to prepare for being able to be part of the team as soon as possible.”

The injury means Anthony Swarzak will remain in the Twins rotation along with Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano and Glen Perkins. Beyond that, the Twins top starting pitching options are in their bullpen, in R.A. Dickey, Bobby Keppel and Brian Duensing.

Slowey originally sustained the injury last September against the White Sox, when he was hit in the wrist with a line drive from Juan Uribe. He saw Dr. Graham at the time and received a cortisone shot.

Slowey said the injury didn’t bother him early this season, when he emerged as an All-Star candidate, but did affect him in his final few starts before going on the DL. Slowey had hoped to begin a minor-league rehab stint with Class AAA Rochester but felt pain again in a throwing session Friday.

“I got out to 90 feet, and just the combination of the pain and the fact I couldn’t make the ball do what I wanted to do, even in throwing and playing catch,” he said. “Our medical team and [pitching coach Rick Anderson] and [manager Ron Gardenhire] have been very adamant throughout that my health is of the utmost concern.

“At no point did they want me to be out there taking pain killers to throw and trying to just gut it out because that’s not going to help me or the team. They’ve done a great job, and as far as Andy and Gardy are concerned, they’ve treated me as if I was their kid, and that’s something I really appreciate.”

I’ll post the Twins lineup now, with updates later.

WHITE SOX

TBA

Starting pitcher: LH John Danks

TWINS

1. Denard Span, LF

2. Joe Mauer, C

3. Justin Morneau, 1B

4. Michael Cuddyer, RF

5. Jason Kubel, DH

6. Brendan Harris, 3B

7. Carlos Gomez, CF

8. Nick Punto, SS

9. Alexi Casilla, 2B

Starting pitcher: LH Glen Perkins

Metrodome. First pitch: 7:10 p.m. TV: FSN

Reading this story from La Velle today, you can feel the urgency from within the clubhouse for the Twins front office to make a trade. Earlier this month, Justin Morneau told Jim Souhan that the team’s trade deadline decisions could have an impact on Joe Mauer’s decision to sign a long-term contract with the team.

Here, Morneau takes it one step further: “If we don’t do anything this year, I can’t see how he’s going to want to come back and go through this every year.”

Reading Bill Smith’s quotes in Sid Hartman’s column, you realize he gets it, that making a deal won’t be easy, but that he’d be letting down the team if he doesn’t get a deal made:

We’re going to have to right the ship. We’ve got to play better to start with. It’s our job to try and help this club and bring in some reinforcements. There are a lot of buyers and not many sellers, because teams are in contention.

Aaron Gleeman and Seth Stohs each weigh in today on the merits of a potential Orlando Cabrera trade. Both mention Cabrera’s track record. No matter how woeful the Twins’ middle infielders have been offensively, it’s hard to get excited about a guy batting .278/.314/.366 for the season.

But it’s worth noting that since June 4, Cabrera’s line is .339/.361/.459. He’s also been to the postseason four of the past five years. He raised his game in the second half of last season, helping the White Sox edge the Twins for the AL Central crown. Bottom line is he’d be an upgrade for the Twins right now, filling an important hole, heading into another stretch run.

Note: Check back here later for updates on Kevin Slowey and Joe Crede from the Metrodome, along with tonight’s starting lineups.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Joe Mauer fell out of the AL batting lead Sunday, as the first 0-for-6 game of his career dropped his average to .358, leaving him behind Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki, who is at .363.

Mauer went 1-for-13 in the Rangers series, and the lone hit was a soft single to center on Friday. Maybe it’s a Texas thing, as Mauer is batting .206 (13-for-63) for his career in Arlington. Then again, his average has fallen 71 points since June 16.

Mauer wasn’t alone Sunday. The first five hitters in the order — Denard Span, Alexi Casilla, Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer — combined to go 1-for-24. In 12 innings, the Twins combined for seven hits in 41 at-bats.

MISSED CHANCES 

Here’s what Sunday’s 5-3, 12-inning loss cost the Twins:

(*) A chance to leapfrog Chicago into second place and pull within one game of first place Detroit in the AL Central.

(*) A chance to complete their first sweep on the road since June 24-26, 2008 at San Diego.

(*) A chance to complete their first three-game sweep at Texas since 1976.

DICKEY ALL CLASS

The first question to Twins pitcher R.A. Dickey came from a Texas reporter, not me, and it was a doozy.

“Do you regret throwing that fastball?”

“Of course I regret it,” Dickey said. “That was all me. [Brian] Duensing didn’t deserve a loss, I did.”

If Dickey wasn’t such a stand-up guy, he might have snapped. He had just given up Ian Kinsler’s two-run, walkoff home run.

The effectiveness of Dickey’s knuckleball varies from game to game, but, “It was good, it was really good, which makes it even tougher,” he said. “I had a good knuckleball, and it was going three different directions.”

Kinsler, the third player since 1969 to hit both a leadoff homer and a walkoff homer in the same game, had already seen five knuckleballs, ranging in speed from 73-77 mph. So Dickey figured the fastball would “maybe freeze him, kind of defrost him, after seeing [five] knuckleballs, you run one up there 85-86, hopefully he’s late on it or he takes it for a strike, which has happened during the year.”

With four reporters huddled around him, Dickey continued his tortured analysis.

“But in that situation, you’ve got a base open at first, everything played to me living or dying with the knuckleball the whole night,” he said. “That’s what I should have done and it was my fault.”

PUNTO’S WEB GEM

I was convinced Nick Punto purposely missed Hank Blalock’s slicing looper in the sixth inning, so he could turn it into a double play. The Texas runners had no choice but to freeze, and the result was Punto’s unassisted double play.

“I was actually trying to catch that ball,” Punto said. “It was one of those things where it worked out perfect for us. The umpires couldn’t call the infield fly rule, and I truly went after it. I got it on the short hop, and luckily it bounced off my face and I got a double play.”

Punto also had his first three-hit game of the season.

NOTE: La Velle is our point man in Oakland and Anaheim, so head to his blog for updates. You can also follow us on Twitter @LaVelleNeal and @JoeCStarTribune.