By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s September and scoreboard watching now will become a daily occurrence. But tonight, the Twins already know what they need to do.

The White Sox closed out their series with the Indians this afternoon with a 6-4 win thanks to Paul Konerko’s three-run homer in the eighth inning. That means that the Twins’ lead in the AL Central currently stands at 3 1/2 games and they need a win tonight over the Tigers to bring that back to four games.

Pre-game for the Twins today was injury central and perhaps the key phrase of manager Ron Gardenhire’s session was “day-to-day”. Jim Thome was originally in the lineup as the Twins DH but he was scratched and replaced by Jose Morales. Thome’s back was feeling OK when he took some early swings, but it tightened up on him when he tried to run on the field. So he’s still considered day-to-day.

Orlando Hudson had an MRI on his right ankle. It showed some inflammation and a little swelling in the ankle, but “nothing big” according to Gardenhire. Hudson is taking some medication to help with the inflammation and he’s also considered day-to-day.

Jason Kubel was icing his left wrist in the clubhouse. He said that the swelling has gone down and his wrist is feeling better after getting by a pitch. But he won’t take any swings today and it will be a couple days before he’s ready to return.

Brian Fuentes said that his back was feeling better but he’s still waiting for the medicine to really kick in. So he likely will be a couple days as well. And I bet you can guess that he’s also “day-to-day”

Also, I blogged it earlier but the Twins finalized their trade for Fuentes by sending right-hander Loek Van Mil to the Angels. Van Mil, 25, had been designated for assignment on Saturday to make room for Fuentes on the 40-man roster.

Tigers (65-67)

Austin Jackson, CF
Will Rhymes, 2B
Casper Wells, LF
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Jhonny Peralta, DH
Brandon Inge, 3B
Ramon Santiago, SS
Brennan Boesch, RF
Gerald Laird, C

Pitching: RHP Max Scherzer (10-9, 3.60 ERA)

Twins

(76-56)

Denard Span, CF

Alexi Casilla, 2B
Joe Mauer, C
Michael Cuddyer, 1B
Delmon
Young, LF
Danny Valencia, 3B
Jose Morales, DH
Jason Repko, RF
J.J. Hardy,
SS

Pitching: LHP Francisco Liriano

(12-7, 3.41 ERA)

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