The Twins finish a three-game series against the Royals at Target Field (6:40 p.m., BSN) without American League batting leader Luis Arraez in the lineup.
Arraez left Wednesday's 4-0 victory because of left hamstring tightness. After the game, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said an MRI didn't reveal any substantial damage.
"This is one of those types of issues that a guy has been playing with for a long time," Baldelli said. "He was DHing for a while because of it. He was just getting back to the point where he could take the field, and he could start to move around a little bit and do some different things, probably push it a little bit more. But then he has the infield hit to start the game, and he's running like that. So that made it tough."
Arraez is hitting a league-leading .320, three points ahead of Boston's Xander Bogaerts. Only seven players in the league have batting averages .300 or higher.
Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers leads the majors at .329.
The Twins are also without injured regular position players Byron Buxton (hip), Max Kepler (leg, wrist) and Jorge Polanco (knee) after losing Miguel Sano, Alex Kirilloff, Trevor Larnach and Ryan Jeffers earlier in the season. Larnach (core muscle surgery) and Jeffers (broken thumb) are set for rehab assignments in St. Paul as they hope to return before the season ends.
Six Twins players — Buxton, Carlos Correa, Emilio Pagan, Jose Miranda, Jorge López and Jovani Moran — will wear Roberto Clemente's No. 1 on Clemente Day in the major leagues.
The White Sox beat the Guardians earlier today, meaning the Twins are now 41⁄2 games behind first-place Cleveland, which leads second place Chicago by three. The Twins, who have won the first two games of their three-game set with Kansas City, begin a five-game series in Cleveland on Friday.
