Twins DH Jason Kubel was scratched from the lineup on Friday night against the Brewers due to a swollen left knee.

Kubel said he either tweaked or jammed the knee in the first inning of Thursday’s game in Chicago while chasing down a ball in left field. Then later in the game, he fouled a pitch off, just above his knee.

“It’s pretty swollen right now,” Kubel said. “Hopefully in a couple days it should go down.”

Kubel isn’t a stranger to knee problems. He even joked that the swelling right now is in “the bad one.” That’s because Kubel tore three ligaments in that left knee during a play in the outfielde during the 2004 Arizona Fall League, causing him to miss the entire 2005 season.

This injury doesn’t seem to be anything that Kubel feels is serious. He was able to stay in Thursday’s game until the sixth inning when he was taken out after the Twins were already up 16-0.

Kubel tried to run around a bit in the outfield shagging balls before batting practice on Friday and he wasn’t moving around very well. Then when Kubel was having trouble trying to jog during the team’s warm-ups before BP is when the decision was made to scratch him from the lineup.

“I know what to expect so I’m not too concerned about this [injury],” Kubel said. “I had this a couple years ago.  I had a play here where I slipped on the turf. It got a little swollen after that and then three or four days it was pretty much back to normal.”

Kubel said he’ll keep icing the knee and riding the bike to keep the knee loose. Manager Ron Gardenhire said that Kubel will be emergency only, but Kubel himself felt he could pinch-hit if necessary.