Byron Buxton was removed from the Twins’ 4-2 loss to the Athletics on Tuesday night due to recurring discomfort in his right hip, an area that has given him trouble since May and already landed him on the injured list twice this season.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Buxton chased a line drive by Henry Bolte into the gap in right-center field. Buxton moved awkwardly when he reached down to field the ball, didn’t get it, and Bolte went all the way to third base.
Deceleration has consistently been one of the more challenging aspects to manage as Buxton has dealt with the hip issue, and that appeared to be the problem Tuesday.
Manager Derek Shelton and athletic trainer Jason Kirkman came out to check on Buxton, who was in obvious discomfort, and he walked off the field.
“He’s been dealing with the hip issue, which we know, and I think it kind of caught when he went to stop on the ball that got hit in the gap,” Shelton said. “And once I got out there, he had already talked to Jason a little bit. Just felt with where he was at, I made the decision, let’s get him off the field. We need to make sure that we get a look at it.”
Buxton was coming off his best game since the All-Star break Monday night (3-for-5, four runs), and was 0-for-3 on Tuesday.
It’s unclear whether a move will need to be made with Buxton, who was already scheduled to have an off-day Wednesday prior to the team’s off-day Thursday. It’s possible that even if he needs to go on the injured list, the Twins will wait until they’re back home Friday to make a move.
“I think we’ll wait and see,” Shelton said. “He’s just too important to us. He was not going to play tomorrow anyway. … So we’ll see how he reports tomorrow. Fortunately it is a night game. It's not a quick turnaround, and we do have some time.”