Twins lefthander Francisco Liriano was sent to the hospital last night to have swelling in his left forearm examined and might not be able to start tonight against the White Sox.

Liriano, who had an MRI exam while at the hospital, will be checked out when he arrives at the Dome later this afternoon.

“It will be a (team trainer) Rick McWane and (pitching coach) Rick Anderson decision,” Twins general manager Bill Smith said moments ago.

Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and lefthander Brian Duensing are candidates to take the ball if Liriano can’t start.

Liriano, 4-10 with a 5.56 ERA, has been a major disappointment this season. He’s winless in his last four starts.

The last thing the Twins need is another injury to a starting pitcher. There’s little depth beyond righthander  Anthony Swarzak, who is filling in for Kevin Slowey (wrist surgery) for the rest of the season.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 1:16 pm and is filed under Breaking news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.