DETROIT _ Eddie Rosario ran in the outfield early Monday afternoon, felt good, then made his case to manager Paul Molitor that he is ready to play in the outfield again after injuring his right quadriceps Aug. 30 in Cleveland.
Rosario has been eager to end his run at designated hitter.
"My numbers are not good at DH," said Rosario, who is batting .188 this season as a DH.
Rosario got the go-ahead to start in left Monday _ and celebrated by blasting a home run to left field off Jordan Zimmermann in the first inning.
But he was not on the field for the end of the Twins' 6-1 victory over the Tigers after re-aggravating his quad injury in the fourth inning. Rosario is out indefinitely and, with less than two weeks left in the season, is likely done for 2018 as far as playing in the outfield.
Rosario was injured as he chased down a single to left-center by Jim Adduci with a runner on first. Rosario tracked down the ball and was slowing down to throw the ball back in but slipped on the grass, fell backward and had his leg fold up under him.
He tried to flip the ball to center fielder Jake Cave, as he was in pain, but the ball scooted by Cave. That enabled Nick Castellanos to score from first while Adduci pulled into second.
Rosario was charged with an error for allowing the runners to advance a base.
Molitor and Twins head trainer Tony Leo ran out to left field to check on Rosario, who eventually walked off the field.
It was just a couple of hours earlier that Molitor expressed hope that Rosario would not re-injure himself.
"He's been anxious to get back out on the defensive side of the game," Molitor said. "I don't know if you can actually put a number on percentage of his health, but I think he can make the plays he's going to need to try to make as a left fielder and we'll see where it goes.
"We're not anticipating any setbacks. This gives Robbie Grossman a chance to get out of the outfield for a day after all the games he's played consecutively and give him a little bit of a blow. We'll try to be smart about it but I know he wants to play out there and I think he's ready to do it."
The Twins had just taken a 5-0 lead in the fourth on RBI singles by Jake Cave and Ehire Adrianza, an RBI groundout by Willians Astudillo and an RBI single by Joe Mauer.
Right-hander Kohl Stewart, who entered after Gabriel Moya opened with a scoreless inning, held the Tigers to one unearned run over six innings on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts. The only run during his watch came on the plate in which Rosario was injured.
Jorge Polanco added a home run in the ninth, his second straight game with a homer.
