Twins notes: Arcia sent down; Walters to start Saturday

DETROIT – The Twins announced after Friday's game that outfielder Oswaldo Arcia will be sent down to Class AAA Rochester in order to make room for righthander P.J. Walters, who will start Saturday.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire made it clear that if it weren't for injuries to Pedro Florimon (sprained right index finger) and Trevor Plouffe (concussion), there might have been a way to keep Arcia on the roster. Arcia was 0-for-3 on Friday, extending his skid to 1-for-15.

''I like his fire, I like the way he goes about it,'' Gardenhire said. ''I like him in the clubhouse. Unfortunately he's in a little bit of a [bad] stretch here. He's been chasing a little bit."

Arcia batted .255 with four homers and 14 RBI in 30 games. He showed a willingness to make adjustments, such as cutting down on his swing with two strikes. The Twins have plenty of people who can play the outfield. That includes recent call-up Chris Colabello, who will play right field at times in order to get some at-bats.

''I feel bad,'' said Arcia, who is working on his English.

Gardenhire expects to see Arcia back soon.

''This can help him,'' Gardenhire said. ''He can go down there and get some swings. For me, I kind of enjoy having him around here. I enjoy putting him in there. He'll be back. He needs to go down. I know he's very frustrated, which he should be. It's not what I wanted to happen, but because of our situation we just had to do it.''

Miguel Cabrera is on a roll, batting .388 with 14 home runs and 56 RBI. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it's only the fourth time in major league history a player has batted at least .390 with 14 homers and 55 RBI in his team's first 45 games. Chuck Klein, Jimmie Foxx and Manny Ramirez are the others.

Cabrera drove in three runs, including a two-run homer, against the Twins on Thursday. He was 1-for-4 with two RBI on Friday. He's batting .326 against the Twins with 27 homers and 97 RBI.

''He's a really smart baseball player, and he probably doesn't get enough credit for that,'' Gardenhire said. ''He's a real intelligent baseball player when it comes to watching the game and paying attention. He's looking in the dugout trying to see if I'm giving signs. He's staring at me and I'm like, 'You're not supposed to be doing that.' So he pays attention to the game.''

Third baseman Trevor Plouffe started on his path back to the Twins lineup with a workout at Comerica Park on Friday.

''The most cardio work I've ever done,'' he said.

So Plouffe slowly will work his way into baseball activities, take batting practice early next week when the club is in Milwaukee and hopefully be activated when the Twins return to Target Field on Wednesday.

''We will increase activities and hopefully there will be no side effects,'' Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony said.