Punto, Morneau can play

BY GORDON WITTENMYER
Pioneer Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Injured and ailing Twins Nick Punto and Justin Morneau have been cleared to start practicing following medical exams in the past two days.

Morneau, who was recovering from pneumonia as he started camp, is scheduled to start at first base in one of the Twins' split-squad games Saturday.

Punto had a magnetic resonance imaging test on the area of his lower back he injured while taking batting practice before camp opened, and the results showed no serious injury. Morneau had blood work to determine whether he had any lingering infection from not only the pneumonia but also a recent case of pleurisy. That, too, came back clear.

"We're starting to get some good news on some of these guys," said manager Ron Gardenhire, who also got a positive report from reliever Grant Balfour on the right-hander's sore forearm. "Now we start moving these guys up."

Punto hasn't been scheduled for a game yet, but he was back to fielding practice Thursday and is close to resuming batting practice.

Taking on the champs

Twins pitcher Kyle Lohse, in his first start of the spring, picked up where he left off last season.

But fortunately for the right-hander, he left off where he picked up and finished a solid two-inning step beyond the most frustrating season of his big-league career.

"I tried to get myself into a jam and tried to get out of it," joked Lohse, who gave up a double to center field on the first pitch of the game but then retired six of the seven Boston batters he faced in the Twins' first exhibition game of the spring. Jay Payton's leadoff double turned into the only run off him, Payton eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly.

"That was a good way to get it started. I was just trying to go out there throwing strikes and get ahead of hitters, and I did that," he said. "This year is a fresh start, and I can move on now."

Lohse struggled throughout a 9-13 season last year, with a 5.34 earned-run average.

Briefly

The Twins rallied for two runs in the ninth off right-hander Kris Wilson but lost 4-3 to the Red Sox at City of Palms Park across town in Fort Myers.

Right-hander Willie Eyre, who spent last season splitting time between the starting rotation and the bullpen at Class AAA Rochester, appeared impressive in his two-inning spring debut, allowing only an infield hit and facing the minimum. The Red Sox didn't hit the ball out of the infield off him.