Twins righthander Phil Hughes tried to make a good pitch to Adam Dunn in the fourth inning on Thursday. but missed his spot.

``He made that one hurt," Hughes said.

Dunn lined the ball off his shin, causing so much pain that Hughes had to leave the game with a contusion of the right shin. X-Rays were negative, and now its about pain management as Hughes tries to remain in the rotation.

He hopes the pain goes away in a couple days and is thankful the bone didn't break.

``The good thing is once I can do anything on it I don't have to be cautious about it, I can just do as much as I can stand up to the pain, it's a good thing," he said. ``The way the rotation's looking right now I feel a responsibility to get out there and not miss any time, and that's what I'll try to do."

It looks like Kyle Gibson (back) will miss his start on Saturday, forcing the Twins to call up someone from Class AAA Rochester (Logan Darnell????). But right now two of the Twins' promising starters are banged up, and that's not good.

KOHL STEWART: The Class A Cedar Rapids righthander missed his start on Thursday with a sore shoulder. The Twins don't think it's serious. But this is the second straight year Stewart has had shoulder problems, which is worth monitoring.

``