Luis Rivas points to his arm as he shows the team trainer where he was hit by a pitch thrown by the Royals' Dan Reichert April 3 in Kansas City. (Ed Zurga/AP)

To make room for Rivas, the Twins designated infielder Jay Canizaro for assignment. Canizaro was hitting .214 (24-for-112) with no homers and 11 RBIs in 38 games.

Minnesota has been without Rivas since midway through the second game of the season. In his second at-bat April 3, the 22-year-old suffered a fractured left wrist when he was hit by a pitch from the Royals' Dan Reichert.

Sending out Canizaro was a tough decision, manager Ron Gardenhire said. The utility infielder missed all of 2001 with a torn ACL in his knee and the club showed loyalty and still brought him north after he hit just .100 in Spring Training.

Canizaro was out of options and will have to clear waivers before he can begin playing in the Twins minor league system.

"Somebody's got to move when Rivas gets back here," Gardenhire said. "We can't go down to 11 pitchers. It's just not an option so we had to decide on an infielder. Jay is struggling at the plate a little bit. He's done okay filling in, but there wasn't too many options here."

Rivas will be in the Twins' starting lineup Tuesday night and batting ninth against Cleveland. For the last week, he has been on a rehabilitation assignment with Minnesota's Class A affiliate in Fort Myers, where he was 2-for-22 with a triple and three RBIs in six games

But, on the night that Gardenhire finally gets his Opening Day lineup back, he has decided to bench another key player for one game.

Gardenhire revealed that shortstop Cristian Guzman would not play Tuesday for being late to a treatment program for his injured shoulder and knee.

"If he doesn't show up, I've told him he's out of the lineup," Gardenhire said before Tuesday's game. "Today, he was late. We had a long talk about it. It's his responsibility as a player."

Gardenhire said that both he and Guzman were disappointed that such an extreme measure needed to be taken. But, the manager felt that he had no other option.

"This is something that needs to be done," Gardenhire said.

Denny Hocking started in Guzman's place against Cleveland. But, Guzman pinch-hit for Hocking in the fifth inning and remained in the game at shortstop.

The Twins medical staff reported that Hocking sustained a mild left groin strain during the 23-2 Twins rout over Cleveland. Hocking is now listed as day-to-day.

With Canizaro gone, that puts the Twins in precarious shape against the Indians this week.

"It's a big deal because I don't have an extra infielder," Gardenhire said.

Mark Sheldon covers the Twins for MLB.com and can be reached at marksheldon@twinsbaseball.com. This article was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.