Graterol here, Buxton activated, Gibson on IL as Twins face Tigers

A very busy Sunday morning in Detroit.

The callups have arrived and, yes, Brusdar Graterol is here. I know you want to hear from him, so here he is, talking about helping out as a reliever.

"I feel very good," Graterol said. "It's the same for me, starting and relieving, but now, I need to be ready every day, because you never know when they're going to call me to say, 'Hey, Graterol, get ready.' I'll be ready every day. It's very good now, relieving."

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said that he wants to use Graterol in low leverage situations just to ease him in. But things could change as the month progresses.

Graterol's contract was selected today from Class AAA Rochester so, as of now, he is not eligible for the postseason roster. But he can replace an injured player who is on the roster. Nick Gordon, for instance, has been out for several weeks but was on the 40-man roster all season long. The Twins can replace Gordon with Graterol on the playoff roster.

But Graterol has to convince the coaching staff that he can help in the postseason.

The other callups, announced by the Twins, are: lefthander Devin Smeltzer, righthanders Zack Littell and Kohl Stewart; catcher Willans Astudillo and outfielders Lamote Wade and Ian Miller.

Miller, like Graterol, had his contract selected. He was purchased from the Mariners system on Aug. 10 and will provide speed off the bench. Miller batted .264 with 35 steals between Class AAA Tacoma and Rochester.

So will Byron Buxton.

Yes, Buxton was activated today. The unexpected move gives the Twins a late-inning defensive, base-running option. He's not ready to start yet because he's unable to swing a bat before of his sore left shoulder. That makes the move interesting, because Buxton injured himself while in the field, not at the plate.

But the Twins feel he can help, so what do I know?

"I think there's only one way to know how he's going to react to that, and it's to go out there and do it," Baldelli said. "The other challenging thing is, if you go out and go on a rehab assignment, say, you could go out for five days and not get any sort of feel for what's going on. He's only going to be going out there as a defensive player. He's not going to swing in those games, either. There's no way to really test that until you go out there and do it."

Finally, we learned today about Kyle Gibson's season-long battle with what tuned out to be ulcerative colitis. He's lost about 10 pounds and has been waking up several times a night because of the condition. He went to the Cleveland Clinic in May and July for help, but he's felt weaker lately and said he didn't have his legs under him his last three starts. Gibson is on a powerful anti-inflammatory drug now, he's hoping to get a few nights of good sleep and return to the rotation once he's activated.

Lefthander Lewis Thorpe was called up to replace Gibson on the roster.

The game was delayed by rain until 12:30 CDT - just long enough for me to complete this.

TWINS

Max Kepler, CF
Jorge Polanco, SS
Nelson Cruz, DH
Eddie Rosario, LF
Miguel Sano, 3B
Luis Arraez, 2B
Jake Cave, RF
Willians Astudillo, 1B
Jason Castro, C

RHP Michael Pineda

Tigers

Victor Reyes, RF
Willi Castro, SS
Miguel Cabrera, DH
Ronny Rodriguez, 2B
Harold Castro, CF
Dawel Lugo, 3B
Brandon Dixon, LF
Jordy Mercer, 1B
Jake Rogers, C

RHP Spencer Turnbull