MINNEAPOLIS -- As Joe Mauer continues to work his way back from the cervical neck strain that landed him on the 10-day DL on May 19, the Twins are making sure to take a conservative approach with his recovery process.
Mauer took batting practice and fielded ground balls prior to Minnesota's loss to the Indians on Thursday, but admitted to feeling concussion-like symptoms afterward. He sat through Minnesota's game on Thursday without experiencing further symptoms, but the Twins pumped the brakes on his rehab on Friday.
Mauer did not take batting practice, and the only activity he participated in on the field was catching throws behind a screen at first base when the Twins took infield practice.
"I don't know exactly where we're at with that today," Minnesota manager Paul Molitor said of Mauer's activity on Friday. "I know Joe had his comments yesterday about some of the things that unfolded. Not overly surprised that a fuller day around a different environment had a little bit of an effect. So, yeah. We'll probably be a little bit smarter today.
"It's one of those things where I understand people are wondering when Joe is gonna play. In reality, given what he's dealing with, the timing is gonna be what it is. When he's ready, Joe will be the first guy to get back out there."
Twins hold team meeting
Molitor said Friday that he met with his team prior to Thursday's batting practice with the intention of checking in on the Twins as a group. Molitor gathered the team at second base and said he addressed a specific point.
"Most of my meetings over the last three years have been relatively positive," Molitor said. "I try to find something to build on instead of tear down."
The Twins are 3-7 over their last 10 games. After falling behind early in each of their last two games, they rallied back before ultimately losing both games late. They are 3-12 in one-run games this season.
"Specifically, we talked about the way we've been losing games," Molitor said. "To me, it's not always about getting walked off, it's about something that happened in the third inning we screwed up that [lost] us a chance to score a run. So that was some of the things we talked about yesterday. The mindset of baserunning. There were some general things that were discussed."
Vikings take their cuts
Four players from the Minnesota Vikings were in the building at Target Field on Friday, attempting to showcase their skills as multisport athletes.
Kirk Cousins, Everson Griffen, Stefon Diggs and Harrison Smith each got the chance to jump in the batter's box and take some swings -- to varying results.
"There's room for improvement," Smith joked. "[Griffen] is good. I had a feeling he'd be pretty good. He's an athletic dude."

Griffen and Cousins each have baseball backgrounds but ultimately went on to successful careers on the gridiron.
"I played all the way through high school," Cousins said. "My brother played in college and my dad's favorite sport was baseball. So growing up that was the sport that really was the focus until much later in high school. We were a good team in high school. We finished fifth in the state my junior year, and we were No. 1 my senior year for a large part of the season. I played a lot of baseball games, but by the end of high school it was pretty clear that football was the route for me. I always threw a football better than I threw a baseball, comparatively. I pitched, but I could never really get the velocity up. I was in the low 80s; I could never get to where to you needed to go to where you'd really be a great pitcher."