Denard Span arrived at Kauffman Stadium on Friday afternoon to take part in early batting practice and see if he was indeed ready to return to the lineup four days after getting hit in the back of the helmet with a pitch.

Span didn’t do any hitting in early BP, but he ran around on the field and stood in for some bullpen sessions. Everything went well enough that he’s back manning center field and hitting leadoff for the first time since Monday in Chicago.

“I don’t feel dizzy or anything like that,” Span said.”I feel good and ready to go.”

Span stood in on two bullpen sessions — one by Francisco Liriano and another by Nick Blackburn — so he got to see both left-handed and right-handed pitching. The real test, he said, was seeing Liriano throw since it was left-hander Randy Williams who hit him with the 91 mph fastball.

“It was good just to see the ball coming out of his hand and at game speed,” Span said. “So tonight if a lefty does come in later in the game, I’ll be ready hopefully.”

After getting hit by the pitch, Span missed the final two contests in Chicago and then got another day of rest during the Twins’ off day on Thursday. Span said he never would have wanted to get that much time off if he hadn’t gotten hit by the pitch, but the three-day break has provided some benefits.

“I definitely feel a bit more fresh,” Span said. “Even in the cage, my hands felt a little quicker than they usually do at this time of the year.”

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has said that the biggest challenge for a hitter is getting back in the batter’s box for the first time after he’s been hit in the head. Since this was the first time it’s ever happened to Span, he doesn’t know exactly how he’ll react.

His hope is just that he can focus like it’s any normal at-bat.

“I’ve been praying that everything goes fine and any fears I have, once I get back in the box, won’t be going through my head,” Span said.

A quiet day in terms of news pre-game. My associate reporter, Tyler, is doing the early slugs so you can read about how Denard Span feels about finally getting a diagnosis to his dizziness on the site in a little bit.

UPDATES: Like I said earlier, it was a quiet day in terms of news but there was an entertaining exchange on the field during batting practice.

A couple of the Vikings defensive coaches came down to watch the Twins take BP. It was their first time on the field when it was set up for baseball. They took the chance to talk with some of the Twins coaches and players, including manager Ron Gardenhire, Michael Cuddyer and hitting coach Joe Vavra.

While Gardenhire was chatting with the coaches in front of the dugout, he called Joe Mauer over to have him meet them. But he joked quickly that the catcher better head back to work, as it was Mauer’s turn to bat in the cage. Seems like Gardenhire didn’t want to risk losing his All-Star catcher if the talk turned to the possibility of Mauer returning to football. After all, even the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, joked that he was going to sign an executive order requiring the St. Paul native to be the Vikings QB in addition to catching for the Twins.

“They talked about if they don’t get [Brett] Favre, they’re coming [for Mauer],” Gardenhire kidded in reference to the Vikings coaches. “I love you Vikings but you are not getting my guy. He’s playing baseball.”

Pirates
Andrew McCutchen, CF
Nyjer Morgan, LF
Freddy Sanchez, 2B
Adam LaRoche, 1B
Delwyn Young, RF
Eric Hinske, DH
Andy LaRoche, 3B
Robinson Diaz, C
Jack Wilson, SS
Pitching: Ian Snell, RHP

Twins
Brendan Harris, SS
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Joe Crede, 3B
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Delmon Young, LF
Carlos Gomez, CF
Nick Punto, 2B
Pitching: Francisco Liriano, LHP