Joe Mauer is not in the starting lineup again as he continues to battle sore quadriceps. He hasn't started in four of the Twins' last nine games and has played first base in two of the five games he's started.
The sore quads appear to be a slighty bigger issue than initially believed. Twins manager Paul Molitor believes that Mauer has battled sore legs for awhile now but didn't make it out to be that big of a problem. Scoring from first base on a double by Trevor Plouffe in Atlanta apparently aggravated things.
With the Twins facing a couple lefties this series, Molitor decided to see how close he can get Mauer to 100 percent before he starts him again.
Molitor said he's hopeful that Mauer will be able to play on Friday when the Twins open a three game series in Toronto. And Molitor plans to use Mauer as much as possible even when rosters expand in September. He wants to win games, and Mauer remains an on base machine.
Speaking of a win, the Twins could use one today. Another loss would be their seventh straight and put then back at 29 games under .500 for the firs time since July 1.
Tigers
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Tyler Collins, CF
Miggy, 1B
V-Mart, DH
J.D. Martinez, RF
Justin Upton, LF
Casey McGehee, 3B
James McCann, C
Andrew Romine, SS
Daniel Norris, SS
Twins
Brian Dozier, 2B
Jorge Polanco, SS
Robbie Grossman, LF
Trevor Plouffe, 1B
Miguel Sano, DH
Max Kepler, RF
Eduardo Escobar, 3B
Juan Centeno, C
Danny Santana, CF
Jose Berrios, RHP
