Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton was put on the 10-day injured list on Thursday, three days after he left a game due to inflammation in his right hip.
Manager Rocco Baldelli said Buxton, who wasn’t with the playoff-contending Twins for their series opener at Texas, received an injection and was feeling okay, but wouldn’t be able to play for a few more days.
Baldelli explained, “We just understood that he wasn’t going to be back for a few more days and we have some other players that are probably also going to need to be off at some point over the next handful of days. We just can’t play short for almost a week in order to do that.”
The IL move was made retroactive to Tuesday, so Buxton could return as soon as August 23.
The Twins recalled infielder Edouard Julien from Triple-A St. Paul for his third stint with the team this season.
Buxton, 30 years old, was hitting .275 with 16 home runs and 49 RBIs in 90 games this season. He had hit seven home runs in his last 55 at-bats before he struck out in the fifth inning against Kansas City on Monday night and was then replaced in the field in the sixth inning.
At that time, the Twins had described him as day to day.
Going into the opener of their four-game series at the reigning World Series champion Texas, the Twins had a record of 67-53. They were holding the American League’s second wild card spot and were 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland in the AL Central.
Buxton had missed three games earlier this month due to back stiffness and was out for 14 games in May because of inflammation in his right knee.
A strained right hip kept him out for the last six weeks of the 2022 season, an injury believed to be related to the knee pain he experienced that year. He had arthroscopic surgery on his knee in 2022 and again last October.
Baldelli mentioned that the Twins waited as long as possible before making the IL move but don’t expect Buxton to be out much longer than the minimum stay.
