Minnesota Twins: Eddie Rosario removed from Wednesday’s game as a precaution

The Minnesota Twins outfielder left the game on Wednesday afternoon as a precaution after feeling tightness in his hamstring.

The Minnesota Twins have to be kicking themselves a little bit on Wednesday afternoon as they dropped an American League Central series at home as they look to take home the division title. Just as deflating as the complete-game shutout by Lucas Giolito was the status of Eddie Rosario, who appears to be battling a hamstring injury.

Rosario left Wednesday’s game after the fifth inning when he felt tightness in his right hamstring and the Twins opted to err on the side of caution rather than have him grind through the rest of the game.

It’s unknown when the injury occurred, but MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park reported that Rosario didn’t appear to be running at full speed when he chased down a double by Jose Abreu earlier in that inning. Park also reported that the left fielder’s status is currently listed as day-to-day.

While the Twins needed to pick up the victory against the White Sox, the decision to remove Rosario before any further damage was probably the right one. Minnesota is already without the services of Byron Buxton, who continues to recover from a shoulder injury and has been trying to fill the void with Max Kepler in center field and Jake Cave in right.

It will be curious to see how Rosario will be handled moving forward as the Twins will have alternating series with the Detroit Tigers this weekend at home before heading to Chicago to see the White Sox next week and going to Detroit next weekend. With the Twins playing some of the lesser teams in the division, they may opt to be even more conservative to make sure this doesn’t turn into anything worse.

Regardless, the prolonged absence of Rosario would be another blow to an outfield that is already without Byron Buxton. Hopefully, it was just a minor scare and Rosario will return to the lineup against the Tigers on Friday night.