Twins' Mauer on DL with leg weakness

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 14 (UPI) -- Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with weakness in his legs, the team said Thursday.

Mauer, who was held out of the Twins' 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay Thursday, is experiencing soreness throughout his body because of the weakness, Manager Ron Gardenhire told the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune.

The catcher's condition "is causing all kind of soreness in his hips, and he's compensating because of the (left knee) surgery he had this winter and he's starting to get sore in other places. So we are just going to shut him down."

Gardenhire said there was no pain in Mauer's knee. Instead, he said, it's the catcher's upper legs that are causing him problems.

"He is definitely very, very sore over the last few days -- his shoulder, his elbow -- and we think it's his legs just not strong enough underneath him and he says he feels terrible," the skipper said.

The team said Mauer would see the same Johns Hopkins physician who treated him for an inflamed sacroiliac joint in 2009.

Catcher Steve Holm was called up from Class AAA Rochester to take Mauer's roster spot.