The Minnesota Twins placed Byron Buxton on the 10-day injured list Tuesday after the center fielder aggravated a hip injury that has lingered through much of the season.
Buxton, who was voted an American League starter for next week's All-Star Game, will be sidelined through the break. The 32-year-old Buxton, who has battled injury problems his entire career, is headed to the IL for the first time this season.
"The most important thing is getting Byron healthy, and the one thing that I appreciate about Byron probably more than anything is how team first he is," Twins manager Derek Shelton said Wednesday on the WCCO Morning News with Vineeta Sawkar. "And when we sat down and talked about where he was at and how he felt, where we were at in the schedule, I think we all thought it was best to get this thing kind of knocked out."
Buxton missed five games in May when he originally suffered the right hip impingement. He sat out four more games last week after he tweaked the same spot. He returned to the lineup on Saturday against the Yankees in New York, but left Sunday's game in the first inning after making an awkward slide while attempting to steal second.
“We dealt with the hip earlier in the year, gave it some time and it calmed down, and then gave it some time again, and it reaggravated,” Shelton said. “I just think with where we’re at in the schedule, how he’s feeling, knowing that he was going to be down a few days, it was probably the best-case scenario for everybody.”
Buxton is hitting .271 with a team-leading .904 OPS in 75 games this season. His 25 home runs are tied for third-most in the American League. He was voted in as an All-Star starter in 2022, when he homered in the AL's 3-2 victory. He was named as a reserve last season.
The Twins recalled outfielder Alan Roden from Triple-A St. Paul to fill Buxton's roster spot.
It also comes at a time when the Twins are making a push in the AL Central. After winning a rare series at Yankee Stadium over the weekend, the Twins returned home Tuesday night to Target Field to take on Cleveland, who is neck-and-neck with Chicago for the AL Central lead. The Twins entered Tuesday's game 4-games out of first.
Taj Bradley allowed one run and struck out 10 in seven innings, Kody Clemens had two hits and an RBI, and the Twins beat the Guardians 3-1 to pull within 3-games of first. It was their seventh win in the last 10 games.
Bradley (8-3), who set a career best with 11 strikeouts in his last outing July 1 at Houston, had swing-and-miss stuff all night, registering a career-high 25 swinging strikes. He allowed three hits and walked none, winning for the third time in his last four starts.
Cleveland Guardians (47-45, second in the AL Central) vs. Minnesota Twins (45-47, third in the AL Central)
Minneapolis; Wednesday, 6:40 p.m. Pregame 6:00 p.m. on 830 WCCO and the Audacy app (in-market only)
PITCHING PROBABLES: Guardians: Slade Cecconi (4-6, 4.44 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 73 strikeouts); Twins: Connor Prielipp (2-5, 4.96 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 65 strikeouts)
LINE: Twins -136, Guardians +112; over/under is 8 1/2 runs
BOTTOM LINE: The Cleveland Guardians are looking to break their three-game skid with a victory over the Minnesota Twins.
Minnesota is 45-47 overall and 23-23 in home games. The Twins have the seventh-best team slugging percentage in MLB play at .416.
Cleveland has a 23-23 record on the road and a 47-45 record overall. The Guardians have a 15-3 record in games when they hit two or more home runs.
The matchup Wednesday is the fifth time these teams square off this season. The Twins have a 3-1 advantage in the season series.
TOP PERFORMERS:
Chase DeLauter leads the Guardians with a .276 batting average, and has 16 doubles, a triple, eight home runs, 29 walks and 41 RBIs. Brayan Rocchio is 10 for 33 with a home run and four RBIs over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Twins: 7-3, .266 batting average, 4.04 ERA, outscored opponents by 14 runs
Guardians: 5-5, .246 batting average, 3.70 ERA, outscored by one run
INJURIES: Twins: Byron Buxton: 10-Day IL (hip), Zebby Matthews: day-to-day (foot), Ryan Jeffers: 10-Day IL (hand), Anthony Banda: 15-Day IL (lat), Mick Abel: 15-Day IL (elbow), Garrett Acton: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Cole Sands: 15-Day IL (forearm), Bailey Ober: 15-Day IL (elbow), David Festa: 60-Day IL (shoulder), Pablo Lopez: 60-Day IL (elbow)
Guardians: Angel Martinez: 10-Day IL (foot), Jose Ramirez: 10-Day IL (hand)
"The most important thing is getting Byron healthy," said Twins manager Derek Shelton
"The most important thing is getting Byron healthy," said Twins manager Derek Shelton
