Michael  Cuddyer has been diagnosed with a dislocation and laceration of his right index finger and is headed for HCMC for further X-Rays.

He left tonight’s game in the third inning following a headfirst dive into third base.

Cuddyer was hustling from first to third on Justin Morneau’s RBI single and dove for the bag as Royals third baseman Alex Gordon caught a relay throw. Cuddyer held up his hand as he began to come off the field.

The Twins did not say if Cuddyer would land on the disabled list or not but he could need a few days to recover. Knowing him, he’ll try to play through it.

Matt Tolbert started at second base today for Brendan Harris, who apparently is the latest Twins player to catch the flu (I was trying to figure out why he had a jacket on inside the clubhouse). Going back to spring training, Rick Anderson, Randy Ruiz. Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey and now Harris have fell ill. What a bug.

Kevin Slowey is expected to be examined by a team doctor tonight. So we should find out after the game how the Twins will proceed with his biceps injury.

Update: Gardy said that Slowey definitely will miss his next start. His turn came up on an off-day so it’s not that big of a blow. However, Gardy added that Slowey may need seven to 10 days off. If it’s closer to 10, the Twins may need an arm from the minors. It still doesn’t mean that Franchise will replace Slowey. Franchise could need more than one Rochester outing anyway.

Heard from someone in Fort Myers that Liriano pitched around 91-92 mph during his outing on Thursday. He actually left the game with the lead but Cole Devries couldn’t keep a couple inherited baserunners from scoring. [Update: Gardy said in his pre-game presser that Liriano was 91-93].

The lineups:

Kansas City (3-0)

1. Joey Gathright, CF.

2. Mark Grudzielanek, 2B.

3. Alex Gordon, 3B.

4. Jose Guillen, RF.

5. Billy Butler, DH.

6. Mark Teahen, LF

7. Ross Gload, 1B.

8. John Buck, C.

9. Tony Pena, Jr.  SS.

Twins (1-3)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF.

2. Joe Mauer, C.

3. Michael Cuddyer, RF.

4. Justin Morneau, 1B.

5. Delmon Young, LF.

6. Craig Monroe, DH.

7. Mike Lamb, 3B.

8. Matt Tolbert, 2B.

9. Adam Everett, SS.

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