Justin Morneau is swinging the bat well during his rehab assignment

While he may be too late to help the sinking Twins in the American League Central, Justin Morneau is at least swinging the bat well during his minor league rehab assignment.

After going 3-for-5 with two doubles last night, he is now batting .409 (9-for-22) with four doubles and five RBI over his first five rehab games with Triple-A Rochester. Morneau was originally placed on the disabled list in mid-June with a strained left wrist before opting for neck surgery later in the month.

The Twins have lost six in a row and nine out of 10, so they could certainly use the boost, but manager Ron Gardenhire told Rhett Bollinger and Jordan Schelling of MLB.com that Morneau likely won’t be activated from the disabled list until next Monday in Detroit.

“He’s hitting the ball hard,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. “He’s getting some swings in. We’ll go day by day and see where he’s at. So probably Detroit or something like that. We’ll see how it goes.”

Morneau, 30, was batting just .225/.281/.338 with four homers and a .619 OPS prior to being placed on the disabled list. A strong finish would at least give the Twins one less thing to worry about headed into what will be an interesting offseason.