MINNEAPOLIS -- For the third straight off-season, Adrian Peterson will be recovering from surgery. The Minnesota Vikings said their star running back had an operation Thursday to repair his adductor muscle, which is part of the groin. The team said Peterson was expected to be fully recovered in about six weeks, giving him plenty of time to heal before off-season workouts get going. The procedure was performed by Dr. William Meyers at the Vincera Institute in Philadelphia. Peterson rushed for 1,266 yards in 14 games, missing two in December due to a sprained right foot. The groin problem was lingering long before that, though, sapping him of some of his explosiveness. He acknowledged after a loss at Seattle Nov. 17 that the injury was bothering him "a lot." Peterson gained only 65 yards on 21 carries that afternoon, albeit against the leagues best defence. He still managed, two weeks later, to rush for 211 yards against Chicago, the fourth-highest total of his career. But then came the sprained foot in the snow Dec. 8 at Baltimore, and he played only once more, and not at full speed. He tallied 45 yards on 11 attempts at Cincinnati on Dec. 22 and said afterward he felt uncomfortable, a rare admission for one of the sports most confident and determined players. Keeping him off the field is always hard. "Thats just not my mentality, leaving these guys out to dry, just because, what the heck, my passion for the game," Peterson said last month. "I love the game too much to sit out just because. If Im out, youre going to know that he cant go." Peterson is 27th on the all-time rushing list, second only behind Steven Jackson among active players, and he has often stated his goal of someday passing Emmitt Smith for first place in history. Peterson will be 29 before the 2014 season starts, though, which means he is already in the later part of his prime. His punishing running style and the nature of playing such a taxing position will make it difficult, even for him, to keep the pace. This was Petersons third, though least invasive, surgery in the last 25 months. He had anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligament reconstruction in his left knee in December 2011. Then, after rushing for 2,097 yards and winning the NFL MVP award, Peterson had a procedure done in February 2013 to repair a sports hernia in his abdomen. Meyers performed that surgery, too. Custom Oakland Athletics Jerseys . Ellis had a season-high 37 points and two key assists late, Dirk Nowitzki led a fourth-quarter rally with 14 of his 35 points, and the Mavericks spoiled Howards best offensive night in Houston with a 123-120 victory over the Rockets on Wednesday night. 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McAllister won for the first time in almost three months, Ryan Raburn homered and the Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Tuesday night. With Minnesota down 5-1 in the sixth inning, Joe Mauer scored from first base on a single by Justin Morneau that skipped under the glove of centre fielder Michael Bourn for an error and rolled all the way to the warning track. McAllister fanned Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia to end the inning and strand Mauer at third, getting several pats on the back from teammates as he walked back to the dugout. "Our defence has been great for us all year long. For us as pitchers, its our job to pick them up when they dont always do what we expect of them," McAllister said. "For us to be able to pick them up, its exciting and its great to know that they have our back and we have them when we need to." Cleveland had lost seven of its last eight and posted a 6.00 ERA during that stretch. Coming off his worst start of the season Thursday against Detroit, McAllister (5-7) bounced back and held Minnesota to one earned run and four hits in six innings. He struck out seven in his first win since May 23. Cleveland manager Terry Francona said the sixth inning was the highlight of McAllisters night. "Were getting to a point where youre thinking about maybe going to the bullpen," Francona said. "Hes up around 100 pitches and guys have seen him a couple times. He executed very well there." Josh Willingham homered for the Twins in the second inning, Minnesotas 23rd straight run from a home run -- an MLB record. But the Twins went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position and are now 3-for-48 in those situations over their last six games. Mauer scoring on Bourns error was the first time Minnesota scored without a home run since Aug. 7. "We cant rely on home runs all the time," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Its nice when we hit them but were going to have to drive in some of these runs with less than two outs and a mans on third. Unfortunately we didnt do it again tonnight.dddddddddddd" The Indians led 3-1 in the sixth when Samuel Deduno (7-6) hit Carlos Santana in the toe with a pitch. Plate umpire Adam Hamari initially ruled that Dedunos pitch didnt hit him, but awarded Santana first base after conferring with the rest of his crew and changing the call. Rayburn then lined a home run into the left-centre field bleachers, a much-needed blast for a team that got shut out on Monday night by rookie Andrew Albers making his second major-league start. "You go through stretches where you cant get a hit. Its not like we havent been swinging the bat well," Rayburn said. "Last night, I dont know how many great plays they made off of us. Thats part of the game." McAllisters strong start was a boost for an Indians team that entered Tuesday in third place instead of second in the AL Central for the first time since June 17. After McAllister exited, Cody Allen and Joe Smith each pitched a perfect inning. Chris Perez allowed a two-out double to Arcia in the ninth, but retired Trevor Plouffe to end the game and record his 19th save in 22 chances. Bourn, Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley added RBIs for Cleveland. "The game just didnt seem like it went anywhere. I wish I had more to offer than that," Gardenhire said. "I think about the game and nothing really happened too awfully exciting. Sammy gave up the runs, and we didnt do anything offensively." NOTES: The Indians signed former Blue Jays No. 1 pick David Cooper to a minor league deal and sent him to their spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz. The 26-year-old first-baseman is expected to join Triple-A Columbus later this month. ... Minnesota acquired LHP Miguel Sulbaran from the Dodgers to complete the trade for C Drew Butera. The 19-year-old was 6-4 with a 3.01 ERA in 23 games for the Dodgers low Class A team. Minnesota GM Terry Ryan said he expects Sulbaran to be a starter in the Twins system. ... Twins rookie Kyle Gibson (2-3, 6.43 ERA) will try to pitch more than six innings for the first time in his career in Wednesdays series finale. ... Carlos Carrasco (0-4, 7.75 ERA) starts for Cleveland and will try to win for the first time since beating Arizona on June 29, 2011. Carrasco has lost his last 10 decisions. ' ' '