Twins' 10th straight win comes with cost as Buxton hurts knee

CHICAGO -- There had certainly been optimism surrounding Byron Buxton’s spring and start to the regular season, particularly as his offense picked up and the Twins started winning in bunches -- but that faded again in an all-too-familiar way on Wednesday in Chicago.

Buxton exited during the second inning of the Twins’ series finale against the White Sox after appearing to pull up hobbled following a stolen base attempt and having to walk gingerly off the field next to an athletic trainer. Minnesota announced that he left the game with right knee soreness.

Still, even a slowed Buxton wasn’t enough to dissuade the red-hot Twins, who took advantage of wildness from the White Sox bullpen, a sixth-inning error by Chicago shortstop Paul DeJong, and three hits from Jose Miranda in a 10-5 victory that extended their winning streak to 10 games, still the longest of the Majors this season and Minnesota’s longest since 2008.

“Winning baseball is a lot more fun than losing baseball,” Ryan Jeffers said. “Coming into the locker room and having good vibes in here after wins is great. We’re not sitting here counting every win we get. Every day is a new day.”

This streak, which began against the White Sox on April 22, is now one of eight double-digit win streaks in club history. Another victory would make it the Twins’ longest streak since an 11-gamer in 2006. The club record is 15 consecutive wins, set by the World Series-winning 1991 Twins.

On April 21, the Twins were 7-13 following a home loss to the Tigers, already eight games out of the division lead, and needing to take advantage of a stretch against the White Sox, Angels and White Sox again.

They went 10-0 in that stretch and are now 17-13, exactly where they were 30 games in last season, when they won the AL Central -- though this year’s division looks stronger.

“It’s amazing how the emotional swings work in our game, but right now, I think there’s a lot of guys in that clubhouse feeling good about themselves, and they should,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.

The question now is if the Twins will have Buxton with them as they look to dig deeper into their history books, because it seemed that aggressively testing out the legs on the basepaths might have aggravated Buxton’s twice surgically repaired right knee.

Baldelli did not immediately have an update on Buxton but said the Twins plan to get imaging done and take Thursday’s off-day to re-evaluate. Buxton declined to speak following the game.

“He’s in good spirits,” Jeffers said. “He had some uplifting words and he was seemingly in good spirits. Let’s take that as a good sign.”

The injury appeared to occur when Buxton took off for second base on a third consecutive pitch following his second-inning single, with hitter Trevor Larnach having fouled off the first two offerings on which Buxton took off. The final time, Buxton appeared to slow down well ahead of second base and was easily tagged out for a strikeout-throwout double play.

“He was his normal self this morning, so it was something that came up during the game, I would say,” Baldelli said. “Besides that, though, he’s been good.”

Buxton had to take his time walking slowly off the field as Carlos Santana, the next hitter, waited in the batter’s box. Athletic trainer Jason Kirkman joined him on the dugout steps, and Willi Castro took over in center field in the following half-inning.

Back in center field for the first time since 2022 thanks to the offseason procedure on his right knee, Buxton had appeared in 28 of the Twins’ first 30 games this season, playing the outfield in all but four of those appearances. Though he hadn’t hit much in April, his customary defense was back, as he entered Wednesday ranked 10th among all MLB players in Fielding Run Value.

Buxton was hitting .250/.300/.391 with a homer, eight doubles and 32 strikeouts in 100 plate appearances to start the season. The Twins are already down Royce Lewis, who strained his quad on Opening Day, and only got Carlos Correa back from an intercostal strain on Monday.

The 30-year-old Buxton underwent season-ending surgery to repair his right knee in consecutive years -- the first time, an arthroscopic cleanup in September 2022 that wasn’t enough to get him back to the outfield, then a plica excision in October 2023 that seemingly had him in a better spot this spring, enough to push him out of the DH-only role from last season.

If Buxton needs time away, Castro and perhaps Austin Martin could fill center, and Castro had a three-hit game on Wednesday to raise his season OPS to .789 through regular playing time at shortstop in Correa’s absence.