MINNEAPOLIS -- Byron Buxton sat out another day Sunday after suffering a shoulder injury in Friday night’s win over the Royals.
The decision on Buxton’s lineup status came down to a couple of hours before the game. He went through pregame workouts, but manager Derek Shelton decided to hold him out one more time. The Twins have an off-day Monday before starting a series in Detroit on Tuesday, so by sitting Buxton one more day, Minnesota buys two extra days for him to recuperate.
Buxton, who aggravated the same right shoulder that has bothered him for about two weeks, was held out of Saturday’s game as scheduled and again Sunday with an early afternoon start.
“He's OK,” Shelton said Saturday. “He walked in, he was in good spirits. I think we'll get him through the training room and walk him through his regular routine and kind of see where he's at. He hit the wall hard. … I think the most important thing with Buck is you can kind of tell when he comes in, where he's at spirit-wise. He was in my office early this morning [and] he was in good spirits, so that's definitely encouraging.”
Buxton has been dealing with discomfort in both his hip and his throwing shoulder for some time now. He was limited to playing designated hitter for the last week of May, but he returned to center field on Tuesday. For the year, he has a .257/.319/.549 slash line and leads the Twins with 18 home runs.