Twins activate Plouffe, Nunez; Florimon down
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins on Monday reinstated infielders Trevor Plouffe and Eduardo Nunez from the disabled list after both missed the last 14 games because of injuries sustained in a game at Detroit on June 14.
Plouffe (rib injury) was on the 15-day DL, whereas Nunez (strained right hamstring) returns from a four-game rehab assignment with Double-A New Britain. In those games, Nunez hit 4-for-10, with three walks and a triple.
Both returned to the lineup against the Royals; Plouffe started at third and batted sixth, going 1-for-4 with a single. Nunez started at shortstop, batted eighth and went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the 6-1 loss.
"Trevor was with us the last few days swinging and taking ground balls and all that and said he's good to go," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Nunez went down and rehabbed and played [four] games and swung the bat well. He tripled and scored and announced he was ready to go."
To make room on the 25-man roster, the Twins optioned infielder Pedro Florimon to Triple-A Rochester and infielder Jorge Polanco to Class A Advanced Fort Myers.
Florimon played in eight games for the Twins during this most recent stint, going 0-for-11, and is hitting just .092 for the season in 33 games. Polanco made his Major League debut against the Angels on Thursday night and went 2-for-5 in four games.
Polanco, 20, the club's No. 8 overall prospect, became the first Twins player to make the jump from Class A to the Majors since Jim Eisenreich did it in 1982.
"He was exciting," Gardenhire said. "He had his eyes and ears wide open. He definitely has some things to work on, like his baserunning and his technique at shortstop, but once the games started, he played fantastic."