Deduno, Ramirez injured in loss to Royals

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins had two players leave Thursday's 3-1 loss to the Royals with injuries, as right fielder Wilkin Ramirez exited with a left shin contusion and right-hander Samuel Deduno left his start after three innings with right shoulder soreness. Ramirez is day to day, and Deduno said he wasn't sure if he'll make his next scheduled start.

Ramirez left the game in the fifth inning after fouling a pitch off his left leg. Facing Royals left-hander Bruce Chen with one out in the fifth, Ramirez fouled an 0-1 slider off the leg. He remained on the ground for several minutes until he was helped off by Twins trainer Tony Leo and first-base coach Scott Ullger.

Ramirez wasn't available to the media after the game, as he was still being looked at by team trainers. He's scheduled to undergo X-rays and an MRI exam Thursday night.

"He got hit pretty hard," said Twins bench coach Terry Steinbach, who took over for manager Ron Gardenhire after he was ejected. "He went down, and the term we'll use is day to day. He's in the back room getting checked out."

Chris Herrmann replaced Ramirez and finished off the at-bat by grounding back to Chen. Herrmann took over in right field for Ramirez, leaving infielder Doug Bernier as the only healthy player on the bench for the Twins. Outfielder Oswaldo Arcia is still nursing a sore left wrist and isn't swinging a bat yet.

Deduno struggled, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk in three innings. He's been dealing with biceps tendinitis the last two weeks and the Twins took him out for precautionary reasons.

"I felt better than the last time, but tomorrow they're going to do the MRI and see where I'm at," Deduno said. "When I want to throw my fastball hard and be aggressive, that's when I feel it. I wanted to keep pitching, but they wanted to see what was wrong with my shoulder."