ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday, three days after he left a game because of inflammation in his right hip.
Manager Rocco Baldelli said Buxton, who was not with the playoff contender Twins for the series opener in Texas, received an injection and is doing well, but will not be able to play for the next few days.
“We just understood that he wouldn’t be back for a few more days and we have some other players who will probably be out at some point in the next few days,” Baldelli said. “We just can’t play with fewer players for almost a week.”
The move to the IL was retroactive to Tuesday, so Buxton could return on August 23 at the earliest.
Minnesota has recalled infielder Edouard Julien from Triple-A St. Paul for his third appearance with the Twins this season.
Buxton, 30, had a .275 batting average with 16 home runs and 49 RBIs in 90 games this season. He had seven home runs in his last 55 at-bats before being eliminated in the fifth inning against Kansas City on Monday night and then replaced in the sixth inning in the fieldThe twins described him at the time as “day to day”.
Minnesota led 67-53 entering the opener of its four-game series at defending World Series champion Texas. The Twins held the American League’s second wild card and were 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the AL Central.
Buxton missed three games earlier this month due to back problems and was out for 14 games in May due to inflammation in his right knee. A right hip strain put him out of action for the last six weeks of the 2022 season, an injury that is believed to be related to the persistent knee pain he played with this year. He underwent arthroscopic knee surgery at the time and again last October.
Baldelli said the Twins would wait as long as possible before making the latest IL move, but do not expect Buxton to be out much longer than the minimum stay.
“We didn’t decide to put him on the injured list because we just wanted to play it safe. We really wanted to keep him active,” Baldelli said. “That’s why he didn’t go on the injured list yesterday, and that’s why, even though he didn’t travel with the team, we waited to put him on the injured list. We wanted to see how he was doing this morning.”
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