MINNEAPOLIS -- With the Rays’ offense going through a rough patch, getting Yandy Díaz back in the lineup is a welcome sight.

Diaz, who has been sidelined since June 17 with right hamstring discomfort, was activated from the injured list on Thursday and hit fourth for the Rays in the finale with the Twins. He was 0-for-7 in the 18-inning victory, but he hit a sacrifice fly in the 18th that brought in the go-ahead run, and he also made a slick diving play in the 11th.

To make room on the active roster, right-hander Hunter Wood was optioned to Triple-A Durham.

“I feel better and I’m ready to play,” Diaz said. “I just took treatment every day. I was doing a couple of different exercises and that helped me get some strength back in the hamstring.”

Before going down with the injury, Diaz was one of the most consistent players for Tampa Bay during its season-worst 4-11 stretch over the last 15 games. In June, Diaz leads the team with a .361 average. The club went 2-7 in his absence.

“We’ve missed him,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “We’ve obviously missed a lot of guys to some injuries. [Diaz] has been really solid for us offensively and sits right in the middle of our lineup, whether it’s righty or lefty. But having his presence should lengthen us a little bit and hopefully get some good at-bats to jump-start an offense that has scuffled here as of late.”

Diaz says that he’s confident he’ll be able to play on back-to-back days with no issues with the hamstring.

“If I think about potentially getting injured, then I’ll get hurt, so I just have to play the game hard,” Diaz said. “I’m going to try and help the team in any way that I can.”

With Diaz back in the fold, the Rays finally have the ability to mix and match and use some of the infield depth that they were hoping would be a strength coming into the season. Injuries to Diaz, Matt Duffy, Joey Wendle and Daniel Robertson have hurt the plan to keep players as fresh as possible, but with the majority of those players healthy now, you can expect Tampa Bay to rotate players around the diamond.

“It has certainly not gone the way that we’ve wanted it to coming out of Spring Training given the injuries,” Cash said. “A full roster of health, especially in the infield, we had a chance to have a pretty special thing in keeping guys fresh. It hasn’t played that way yet, but hopefully we get to full speed in the coming weeks to where we can get back to that thought process, because we’ll all benefit from it.”

With Wood being optioned to Durham, the Rays will carry just seven relievers into Thursday’s game against the Twins.

Lowe creates ‘Home Runs for Hope’

On Thursday, Brandon Lowe and his wife, Madison, announced the “Home Runs for Hope” partnership with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. They will donate $100 for every home run hit by Lowe this season. In addition, the Rays Baseball Foundation will also contribute $100 per home run in support of Lowe’s campaign.

“It’s something that has really affected my family,” Lowe said. “Just really want to help spread awareness and give help to people that really need it.”

Lowe said that he would have to talk to his family in order to know if he could fully disclose what exactly happened in his family, but he did say that this was something that was important to both him and his wife in order to end the stigma surrounding mental health.

“It happened a few years ago, but it’s something that none of us really saw anything that was affecting our family,” Lowe said. “I don’t know if it was because they thought they didn’t have the outlet to go get help, but hopefully getting this out there and donating the money and all that stuff lets fans know that there’s always someone willing to listen and help.”

To date, Lowe’s 15 home runs have contributed $3,000 to the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.

“Some people associate mental health and stuff like that as you’re not really strong enough, or that you can get over that. It’s not like a physical illness,” Lowe said. “It’s something that needs to be taken seriously and hopefully more people feel comfortable with coming out and getting help and needing to do things about what’s affecting them.”