Santana left out of lineup, working on mechanics

Rookie Danny Santana won't be in the lineup today in the final installment of a three-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Target Field. The centerfielder went on the disabled list June 27 because of a knee injury but returned Friday. He's struggled in his first outings, including striking out four times in four at bats in last night's 5-1 loss. Manager Ron Gardenhire said Santana will be in the batting cage working on some mechanical fixes instead. This is intern Megan Ryan, by the way, hijacking LaVelle's blog. Another thing to look for tonight is a Twins loss – because if they do fail to take one from the series, it will be Gardy's 1,000th career loss. But the longtime manager isn't too concerned. "I don't think it's going to happen," he said. "We're going to win the rest of our games." The Twins managed five groundball double plays last night, and while Gardenhire was impressed by the play of Trevor Plouffe, Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar, he said there was a downside as well. "There's the old saying that if you lead the league in double plays, that means you have a lot of people on base, which is not good for your pitch staff," he said. "But at least we're getting ground balls and getting out of them." Here are the lineups for today's 1:10 p.m. start: RAYSJennings CFZobrist 2BJoyce LFLongoria 3BLoney 1BGuyer DHEscobar SSCasali CKiermaier RF Archer SP TWINSDozier 2BNunez 3BPlouffe DHMorales 1BArcia RFWillingham LFEscobar SSFryer CFuld CF Correia SP