Twins' Luis Arraez suffers setback in return from injured list

The Twins hoped to get second baseman Luis Arraez back this week as he recovered from tendinitis in his left knee. That was before Arraez suffered a sprained left ankle on Sunday.

Arraez was playing in an intrasquad game at the Twins' alternative training site in St. Paul when he rolled the ankle during a rundown.

"So the timeline on Luis is actually going to be pushed back a few days while we reassess him," manager Rocco Baldelli said. "He has a mild ankle sprain. Obviously he was dealing with the knee and coming back from the, basically, the patella tendinitis or exactly what it is.

"He's going to be here, we're going to take a look at him. We're going to get him back on his feet in the next few days and just see how he responds. It's hard to give an exact timeline on him at this moment. It doesn't seem like a major ankle sprain, but he did roll his ankle."

Arraez is batting .288, down from the .334 he hit last season but is still the second only to Nelson Cruz among regular starters. Arraez initially injured his knee during summer camp and it became an issue as the regular season went on. He needed to rest the knee after every few games, to the point where the Twins decided to put him on the injured list to help him recover. Some believe that the injury is a reason for the dropoff in batting average.

Arraez was eligible to come off the IL Monday.

Baldelli was noncommittal when asked before the game about the status of designated hitter Nelson Cruz, who has been resting a sore right knee.

"I need to go check on a few things after this session before I can really define it for you," Baldelli said.

Baldelli must not have been thrilled with what he learned, as Cruz was held out of the starting lineup. He has not played since Friday. Ryan Jeffers was the DH on Tuesday.

And Ehire Adrianza started at shortstop on Tuesday instead of Jorge Polanco. The Twins said Polanco is resting a sore ankle and the hope is that he will play Wednesday.

Etc.

• Before Tuesday's game, the Twins recognized former manager Ron Gardenhire, who stepped down as Tigers skipper over the weekend because of health issues. The videoboard flashed a picture of Gardenhire along with the message, 'Thank You, Gardy" Gardenhire was a coach under Tom Kelly from 1991 to 2001 who then managed the Twins from 2002 to 2014, reaching the postseason six times.

• So far, so good in Odorizzi's return from a blister on his right middle finger. "So we're going to make sure we do everything we can just to make sure we don't set him back, and then we're really having to answer some even more challenging questions," Baldelli said. "We'd like to avoid that if possible."