The rally set up perfectly for the Twins: Three runs down in the seventh inning, two runners on base, and their veteran slugger due up. But Nelson Cruz knew he was in too much pain to help.
Cruz's left wrist has bothered him occasionally all season, and cameras have caught him wincing after a swing. But the nagging soreness turned to pain when he swung his bat an inning earlier Sunday. Cruz called time, walked to the on-deck circle until the pain subsided somewhat, and eventually grounded out. But he told manager Rocco Baldelli he was hurt, and Baldelli sent up a pinch hitter in the seventh.
"It's something I've been dealing with," said Cruz, who has occasionally had his hand wrapped after Twins games. "Today was more painful."
Cruz will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging test Monday to determine the cause of the pain and the process for healing it. It's too early, Baldelli said, to know whether the 38-year-old designated hitter can avoid a stay on the 10-day injured list.
"These are the things you just want to be careful of," Baldelli said. "He's a guy (who) knows his body very, very well, so (we'll talk) about past history and the things that he's dealt with. But I think it's something we'll be able to work through."
Should Cruz be sidelined for a couple of weeks, one option might be to cut short Miguel Sano's rehab assignment at Class AAA Rochester, where Sano doubled twice, struck out twice and walked Sunday. Sano has had 39 plate appearances since returning from a laceration on his right foot, though only nine have come at the Class AAA level.
