The Twins plan to place Kevin Slowey on the 15-day disabled list and will likely recall righthander Jim Hoey from Class AAA Rochester after Slowey was diagnosed this morning with an acute strain of an abdominal muscle.
After reading Slowey's MRI exam Monday, the Twins medical staff recommended he see Edina specialist Dr. Brad Pierce, who performed surgery on Luke Hughes last year to repair a sports hernia. Pierce recommended Slowey get at least 7-10 days of rest.
Hoey has posted a 9.72 ERA with the Twins this year but has a 1.54 ERA in Rochester.
Matt Capps has some right forearm soreness and will not be used again today, Manager Ron Gardenhire said. Gardenhire lamented having to use Capps in the eighth inning in each of his past two outings and said he should be fine after a few days of rest.
Michael Cuddyer (strained right hip) is not in the lineup but he's available off the bench. With an off day Thursday, the Twins want to give Cuddyer a little extra time.
As noted earlier, the Twins have a chance today to do something they haven't done all year: win a three-game series.
It's been a weird schedule, partly because of weather, with six two-game series. They are 3-2-1 in those, 0-1-1 in four-game series and 0-6 in three-game sets.
So, for what it's worth, today's rubber game against the Mariners offers that storyline. The Twins are 16-31, so I don't want to overstate the importance of one game, but baseball teams build confidence by winning series, and losing them can be a real confidence drain.
