New pickup Brian Fuentes is latest to join Twins’ infirmary

Brian Fuentes struck out Russell Branyan for a one-out save in his Twins debut, but it may be a while before he pitches a second time for Minnesota. Fuentes is expected to be unavailable for at least 2-3 days after tweaking his back, which is a tough break for the Twins considering that represents about 10 percent of his total time with the team following last week’s trade with the Angels. Of course, the Twins likely picked up Fuentes as much for the playoffs as for the final six weeks of the regular season, so as long as he’s healthy enough to face Josh Hamilton, Robinson Cano, Carl Crawford, Curtis Granderson, and Carlos Pena in October they’ll be happy with the move. Minnesota is also dealing with recent injuries to Jason Kubel, Jim Thome, and Orlando Hudson, with Kevin Slowey, Nick Punto, Ron Mahay, and Jose Mijares on the disabled list, and Justin Morneau still isn’t close to returning from a concussion suffered on July 7, so as Phil Mackey of 1500ESPN.com writes the stretch run may be a battle of attrition for the AL Central leaders.