Twins infielder Nick Punto left tonight’s game because of bruised left ribs. He was replaced by Matt Tolbert.

The only thing I can think of is that Punto dived into first base in the fifth inning. We’ll check on it after the game.

Michael Russo is here and wants me to call it an upper body injury…. 

Back to regular programming….

This is one of those days when it’s tough to drive downtown for indoor baseball. Warm. Sunny. Everyone is out. The Twin Cities at its best - but we’re in the Dome.

People are tracking how many games would have been delayed by rain this year if we were already outside. How about tracking the kick-butt days when sunblock is needed. I write that fully aware that my sunblock number would be something like 2.5.

Anyway….

Joe Mauer took a ball off the inside of his right knee last night but stayed  in the game. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire told Mauer to let him know if he wants a DH day. He said he would consider starting Jose Morales behind the plate if that happened.

Righthanded hitters are batting .424 off Brian Moehler, so we’ll see. Headed down to find the lineup right now.

Update; Joe Crede is not starting today so he can rest some bumps ad bruises. He did take batting practice and is available off the bench. Gardy said Crede was going to get either today or tomorrow off.

Mauer’s knee isn’t a problem, so he’s back in the lineup.

Brian Moehler is making his first start against the Twins since 2002, when he was with the Tigers.

Astros (30-35)

1. Michael Bourn, CF
2, Jeff Keppinger, 3B
3. Miguel Tejada, SS
4. Carlos Lee, DH
5. Lance Berkman, 1B
6. Hunter Pence, RF
7. Ivan Rodriguez, C
8. Darin Erstad, LF
9. Matt Kata, 2B

Pitching: RHP Brian Moehler

Twins (35-34)

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

Pitching: Scott Baker

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at 2:53 pm and is filed under Game threads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.