BALTIMORE -- It has been a long time coming, but on Saturday, Michael Cuddyer was able to do something he hasn't done since June: see his own name on the active roster.

Cuddyer was activated from the disabled list and returned to duty for the Twins, despite still working his way back from a broken left foot. Cuddyer, who has been on the DL retroactive to June 28 with a strained tendon in his left index finger, was running the bases in a rehab appearance for the finger injury when he was struck by a line drive, breaking his left foot. Cuddyer has missed 63 games from the two injuries.

"I'm activated, I can play," Cuddyer said. "It's nice to walk in and actually see your name on the [lineup] card and be able to feel like if something were to happen, you can go out there and do something."

What that something may be remains to be decided, as Cuddyer is still dealing with pain in the foot when he runs and will likely be available only as a pinch-hitter for quite some time. Cuddyer said he feels completely healthy and pain-free when doing everything except for running.

"He's excited just to be put on, so if some game gets out of whack, he can at least get an at-bat or something," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "He knows he still can't run right yet, but we can put him up there to hit and then we've got to run for him no matter what I do. But it's one of those peace of mind things -- he's back and he'll do the best he can."

Cuddyer said that although he is not back to full speed and still experiences pain when running, the important thing is that the threat of re-breaking the foot by running is gone.

"I'm going to have some pain, but nothing's going to break anymore and that's the big thing," Cuddyer said. "I can't break it just by running on it. If I get hit by a line drive again, I could break it again, but I can't do anything by just running. I can deal with pain -- it's just a matter of if I were going to run on it and break it again, obviously we couldn't do what we've done."

Cuddyer still may go down to the Instructional League when games get started on Sept. 24, to get an opportunity to face more pitching.

Where Cuddyer's progress goes from here -- as well as how his team fares in the interim -- will determine his role on a potential playoff roster.

"You definitely want to be on that playoff roster," Cuddyer said. "We've got to make it to the playoffs to worry about being on the playoff roster. The motivation was just to get back and help the team in some way, shape or form."