Twins end up putting Nunez on disabled list after all

The Twins on Thursday needed to make room to add righthander Yohan Pino to the active roster for his major league debut, so they placed infielder Eduardo Nunez on the 15-day disabled list because of a right hamstring strain.

As it turned out, the Twins wished they could have made the Nunez move earlier. He pulled his hamstring on Saturday at Detroit but wanted to avoid the disabled list. He spent the next few days getting treatment and testing out the leg.

"I can play," Nunez said. "It's just not 100 percent."

Meanwhile, manager Ron Gardenhire was in a situation he didn't want to be in — shorthanded in Boston.

"We took him out [before Sunday's game] and ran the bases which is normally the last thing you do," Gardenhire said. "He ran the bases and kept telling me he's not 100 percent but feels like he can still go run around a little bit. I talked to him a little about the things he's going to be able to do."

Nunez eventually told Gardenhire that his leg wasn't good enough to play on.

"I don't want to pull the hamstring and make it worse," Nunez said.

"That's what we wanted to hear," Gardenhire said of Nunez admitting he couldn't get to 100 percent health. "Wish we would have heard it a little earlier, but the kid wanted to try to play and we gave him some time."

The Twins still needed to make room on the 40-man roster for Pino, which they did by moving righthander Mike Pelfrey from the 15-day to the 60-day DL.

Gardenhire decided to sit outfielder Oswaldo Arcia a second day in a row Thursday night. Part of it was because Chris Parmelee had three hits and a home run Wednesday against Boston.

Arcia, in a 2-for-32 skid, took early batting practice. "He shortened up his swing and was hitting the ball a country mile," Gardenhire said.

The manager hopes Arcia will return a little hungry. "Normally when you do that to a player, he gets tired of sitting on the bench," Gardenhire said.

The Twins have signed 24 of their 40 picks from this month's draft. After Burdi signs, they will have signed eight of their top 10.

First-round pick Nick Gordon, a shortstop from Orlando, made his professional debut Thursday for rookie Elizabethton of the Appalachian League. He singled to center in his second at-bat for his first hit.

• Closer Glen Perkins, who missed Wednesday's game because of a sore back, went out on the field before Thursday's game and played catch with no problems. Perkins then pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 18th save in 20 attempts.