Lefthander Glen Perkins underwent an exam on his left arm Thursday, but the Twins are waiting until Friday to discuss the results. It's believed the All-Star closer has nerve irritation and will not need surgery.

Twins General Manager Terry Ryan indicated Thursday that he had not seen the results of the exam and would have that information available Friday.

Perkins told the team after his outing Tuesday that he felt some soreness in his arm. The Twins then ordered a magnetic resonance imaging exam, with directions to check the forearm, elbow and biceps.

Perkins has struggled of late, blowing three save chances while posting a 14.21 ERA over his past seven outings. Tuesday, he gave up a go-ahead, three-run homer to Detroit's J.D. Martinez with two outs in the ninth inning, the third game in a row Perkins had given up a home run.

Florimon to Nationals

Slick-fielding, feeble-hitting shortstop Pedro Florimon was claimed off waivers Thursday by the Washington Nationals.

Florimon was the Opening Day shortstop for the Twins but was sent to Class AAA Rochester after batting .108 in 25 games. He returned for two weeks in June because of injuries but was not brought back when rosters expanded Sept. 1.

A switch hitter, Florimon batted .257 in 83 games for Rochester.

"He had fallen behind quite a few middle infielders now,'' Ryan said.

The Twins were making room on their 40-man roster for offseason moves when the claim was made. Florimon gets to join the Nationals, who clinched the NL East title this week, for the rest of the regular season but is not eligible for postseason play.

LA VELLE E. NEAL III