By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com

MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins have been the hottest team since the All-Star break, but the club returns home from its six-game roadtrip to Cleveland and Chicago a little banged up after cutting their magic number in the AL Central race down to 8 games.

Here are some of the noteworthy things to know today:

— Denard Span was scratched from the lineup with a sore right shoulder. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that Span suffered the injury while diving for a ball on Thursday night in Chicago. Span tried to go out and take some swings today but was sore. So Ben Revere will get his first Major League start in center field tonight and will lead off for the Twins.

— Jason Kubel’s sore left wrist is feeling better but it looks like Sunday is the return date the Twins are targeting for the outfielder. Kubel said he didn’t plan to take any swings today.

— Joe Mauer is getting the night off from behind the plate. The Twins have a 12:10 p.m. CT on Saturday and so the decision was likely made to have him sit out tonight before catching Kevin Slowey tomorrow.

— It looks like Scott Baker could be used in a spot start sometime soon. The Twins are exploring options to give some of the other starters an extra day in between starts. Gardenhire did say that the start wouldn’t come anytime this weekend, so Francisco Liriano will remain on his normal five-day routine and start Sunday.

— Justin Morneau was at Target Field again on Friday and Gardenhire said that the first baseman told the skipper that he was “feeling really good.” Still, there was no real update on Morneau. The possibility of his return to the field this season still has not been eliminated.

Athletics (72-73)
Coco Crisp, CF
Daric Barton, 1B
Mark Ellis, 2B
Jack Cust, DH
Kurt Suzuki, C
Rajai Davis, RF
Akinori Iwamura, 3B
Chris Carter, LF
Cliff Pennington, SS

Pitching: LHP Brett Anderson (5-6, 2.94 ERA)

Twins

(83-57)

Ben Revere, CF

Orlando Hudson, 2B
Delmon Young, LF
Michael
Cuddyer, 1B
Jim Thome, DH
Danny Valencia, 3B
J.J.

Hardy,
SS
Jason Repko, RF
Drew Butera, C

Pitching: RHP Nick Blackburn
(9-9, 5.51 ERA)



A
reminder
you
can follow me on Twitter  @kellythesier