Major League Baseball

Valencia, Span out of lineup after fender bender

Published Sep. 24, 2011 5:20 a.m. ET

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The Minnesota Twins' injury-ravaged season took yet another bizarre twist when Danny Valencia and Denard Span were held out of the lineup Friday night after being involved in a minor traffic accident.

Valencia and Span were out of the lineup against the Cleveland Indians after suffering general soreness and headaches in the accident.

After the 6-5 loss to the Indians, manager Ron Gardenhire said that Valencia will play in at least one of the games in Saturday's day-night doubleheader, but isn't sure about Span, who has been on the disabled list twice because of a concussion.

The players were traveling in separate vehicles to the airport Thursday afternoon in Minneapolis following a victory over Seattle that broke an 11-game losing streak. Valencia's car, a Range Rover Sport being driven by his fiancee, stopped in rush hour traffic and was rear-ended by Span's car. Span, also driving a Range Rover, said he was traveling about 10 mph when he hit Valencia's car.

Both vehicles suffered minor damage.

The Twins, who won the AL Central the last two seasons, have been riddled with injuries in 2011. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano head the list of key players who have missed significant time with injuries. Minnesota is 60-95, the worst record in the league.

''We need a rabbit's foot,'' Valencia said. ''We have bad luck. It's unfortunate. When you think it can't get any worse, it does.''

Even when the Twins finally got some good news, it was tempered by another negative turn of events.

''We had a great walkoff win, our first in about two weeks, and the next thing you know I think I had a bomb drop on my car,'' Valencia said.

''It's not something I expected coming into the ballpark today,'' Gardenhire said. ''I expect a lot of things, really I expect just about anything, but that kind of put me over the top on what else can happen.''

Span played Wednesday, his first action since Aug. 13.

''I'm laughing, but it's not funny,'' said Span, who has appeared in only 66 games. ''It's been a rough year for me. It could have been a lot worse. I'm thankful it wasn't.''

Valencia said his fiancee was seeing a doctor in Minneapolis on Friday.

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