Twins sit Morneau for remainder of season
Injury problems continue to plague the disappointing Minnesota Twins' 2011 season.
First baseman Justin Morneau will sit out the rest of the year to recover from the flu and a previous concussion, team spokesman Kevin Smith said on Sunday. The team also wants Morneau to go through surgery to remove a cyst in his left knee.
The decision to shut down Morneau with 12 games remaining in the regular season means the 30-year-old slugger and former American League MVP will have played in only 69 games this year
Also on Sunday, right fielder Jason Repko was at bat when he was hit in the head with a pitch from Cleveland Indians right-hander Justin Masterson, and taken to Hennepin County Medical Center for observation.
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"Anytime you get hit in the head it looks horrible. That's what those helmets are for. We hope that the helmet took most of the impact. He went down pretty hard," Smith said.
MLB.com later reported that Repko returned to the Twins' clubhouse after a CAT scan found no problems.
The weekend news comes after Twins fans learned that catcher Joe Mauer is also out for the rest of the season, recovering from pneumonia.
"This is not the way we wanted it to go this year, but least some of these younger kids who our major league staff haven't seen before are getting a pretty good look here in September," Smith said.
The Indians scored six runs in the seventh inning to beat the Twins 6-5 on Sunday.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)