MINNEAPOLIS — Ready or not, the injured stars are finally rejoining the Minnesota Twins’ lineup.
Byron Buxton returned Friday after a month on the sidelines with right hip inflammation, homering in his second at-bat, and Carlos Correa will be back Saturday after missing two months with plantar fasciitis in his right heel.
And the reinforcements are urgently needed, as an 8-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, combined with the Detroit Tigers’ win over the Baltimore Orioles, cut the Twins’ lead for the American League’s third and final wild-card spot to 2 1/2 games with 15 to play.
Buxton’s fifth-inning solo homer tied the game at 1-1, and it stayed that way until the seventh inning, when Twins starter Bailey Ober and reliever Jorge Alcala combined to give up six runs, culminating in Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz’s first career grand slam.
Byron Buxton ties it for the @Twins with a solo shot. 🚀 pic.twitter.com/5JiyyxgOvt
— MLB (@MLB) September 14, 2024
With the loss, the Twins fell to 8-16 since reaching a season-high 17 games above .500 on Aug. 17, the majors’ third-worst record during that four-week span. Buxton’s homer was the Twins’ lone extra-base hit, and the lineup has been held to four runs or fewer in 12 of the last 15 games.
“Player-wise and decision-making-wise, there will be some urgency in what goes on here from here on out,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.
That urgency showed in how Baldelli handled the bullpen in Wednesday’s win over the Los Angeles Angels, pushing Griffin Jax and other relievers to cover more innings than usual, and it’s showing in the decisions to activate Buxton and Correa from the injured list before they’re fully healthy.
If the Twins had more time, Buxton and Correa would have taken it. But it’s now or never with their playoff odds shrinking and the lineup scuffling.
“I know it’s not 100 percent, but it’s good enough for me to go out there and compete and battle,” Buxton said. “I know I can go out there and help the team and contribute in any possible way. It’s just one of those things where you look at where you’re at and you push through things sometimes.”
Last week’s rehab assignment with Triple-A St. Paul was paused after just two games when Buxton experienced hip discomfort. Rather than send him out on another rehab stint this week, the Twins brought the rehab to Target Field, with Buxton going through various agility drills and taking live batting practice against minor-league pitchers.
“We have (15) games left, so he was very eager to get himself back on the field and in the lineup,” Baldelli said. “He’s not going to play every game, but I think he can play fairly regularly. We’re going to have to see how he comes out of each game and check on him. He’s going to say he can play every game, but he hasn’t been built up enough to play every game.”
Buxton started in center field and batted sixth in his first MLB game action since Aug. 12. And he was missed, on both sides of the ball, as fill-in center fielders Austin Martin (15 starts), Willi Castro (6), Manuel Margot (4) and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. (3) often underwhelmed in the field and failed to homer in 28 games, hitting a combined .209 with a .540 OPS.
Buxton, by comparison, played 90 of the first 118 games while batting .275 with 16 homers and an .862 OPS that ranked second among all MLB center fielders at the time of his injury, trailing only Aaron Judge. It took him four swings Friday to hit his 17th homer, a 393-foot liner to left field. And, as usual, he ranks among the league leaders in various defensive metrics.
“Getting Buck back is enormous, on the field and in the clubhouse,” Baldelli said. “It means an incredible amount. We all know we are just a better club, and we’re going to win more games when we have that guy healthy on the field and playing.”
Despite missing the past month, Buxton still ranks second on the team in Wins Above Replacement and second among Twins position players in Win Probability Added. And the Twins have played at a 95-win pace this season when he’s in the starting lineup, compared to a 75-win pace when he’s not, continuing a career-long trend for the oft-injured 30-year-old.
Some video of Carlos Correa and Max Kepler taking live batting practice this afternoon. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/y2DcuMaE68
— KSTPSports (@KSTPSports) September 13, 2024
Correa is returning without any sort of rehab assignment, despite being out twice as long as Buxton. Instead, he has spent much of this week testing his injured heel by running in front of the team’s training staff and, like Buxton, taking multiple days of live batting practice versus minor leaguers to check the necessary health boxes to the Twins’ satisfaction.
Correa last played on July 12, before the All-Star break, missing two months with plantar fasciitis in his right foot. He had the same injury in his left foot last year, playing through it for months at the detriment of his performance. Correa initially expressed optimism that this version wasn’t as severe, but setbacks delayed his recovery, and he’s back now at less than full strength.
As with Buxton in center field, the Twins struggled to replace Correa. Fill-in shortstops Castro (32 starts), Brooks Lee (19) and Kyle Farmer (2) batted a combined .216 with a .624 OPS in 53 games. By comparison, Correa hit .308 with an .896 OPS in 75 first-half games while the Twins played at an 88-win pace with him in the lineup. They went 25-28 during his extended absence.
Max Kepler also took live batting practice Friday and is close to returning from the left knee patellar tendinitis that’s sidelined him since Sept. 1. But whereas Buxton and Correa were playing well when they were shut down, Kepler hasn’t been productive offensively since late May, batting .231 with four homers and a .590 OPS in his last 71 games.
It’s possible Buxton and Correa, and soon Kepler, are pushing to come back before they’re truly ready, perhaps to the detriment of the team. But the Twins can’t wait any longer, and they’re willing to take that risk in search of a much-needed boost to the lineup. For one night, or at least for one Buxton swing, the decisions looked good.
And as Baldelli said, echoing what has become something of a mantra amid this month’s increased urgency: “We’ll worry about tomorrow tomorrow.”
(Photo of Byron Buxton: Matt Krohn / Getty Images)
