Buxton, Kepler deliver double dose of bad news for injury-struck Twins

ST. PETERSBURG -- It seemed that the Twins were on the cusp of getting one of their most consequential players back to reinforce a depleted roster trying to find some semblance of momentum and snap out of its recent downswing.

Instead, they got a double dose of bad news.

Though Byron Buxton appeared to be on track to rejoin the Twins for their upcoming series in Kansas City, that appears to be on hold after Buxton was not only ejected from his Wednesday rehab game for Triple-A St. Paul, but he also reported additional right hip soreness during that game that will lead to more evaluation on Thursday and Friday before the Twins can know more.

It’s too early to tell how much additional time -- if any -- this could cost Buxton, who originally went to the IL with the hip inflammation on Aug. 15. But the Twins are all too familiar with the waiting game, especially as they still have no meaningful updates on Carlos Correa’s seemingly interminable plantar fasciitis battle.

“I have nothing to really report on the medical side except that [Buxton] didn’t feel the way that he needed to feel in the game in order for him to come back and return right now,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.

In the other half of their tough injury news, the Twins also placed Max Kepler on the 10-day IL with patellar tendinitis in his left knee, though this was a more foreseeable move, considering Kepler had already been limited by the issue for nearly a week and a half.

That opened the door for 27-year-old DaShawn Keirsey Jr. to finally earn his first big league callup, where the speedster who has showcased an impressively balanced all-around game in Triple-A this season (14 homers, 36 steals, .839 OPS) will factor into a depleted group that already includes fellow rookies Austin Martin and Michael Helman due to the rash of injuries.

As the Twins search for any spark to snap them out of this skid that has seen them go 5-11 in their last 16 games entering Thursday, they’ll be doing so relying very much on their organizational depth.

Not only do they have all of those rookies in the outfield, but they have three rookies in the starting rotation in Simeon Woods Richardson, David Festa and Zebby Matthews, and a cobbled-together bullpen depth that currently features Ronny Henriquez, Michael Tonkin and Scott Blewett.

“It always goes back to, we've got to compete with the people we've got in this locker room,” Ryan Jeffers said. “Injuries suck. But when you're not here, you're not here. They're part of the team, and they're part of the bigger goal of what we're trying to do. But you've got to go to war with the 26 guys who are on your roster and on that lineup card. That's how you have to treat it.”

As Baldelli has maintained over this recent stretch of losses, the Twins actually still remain in a good spot in the standings, somehow still closer to the best record in the AL (five games behind the Orioles) than to falling out of the playoffs altogether (5 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox, Tigers and Mariners).

But Baldelli and the Twins have recent experience with things going south due to a roster running on fumes -- and the skipper did acknowledge a potential parallel to 2022, when the Twins were tied atop the division in early September but had a similarly deep rash of injuries completely derail their campaign as they finished 14 games behind Cleveland.

The depth is better this time, to be sure. Helman and Keirsey are Minor League veterans but have put together great seasons in Triple-A, while the three rookies in the rotation are all onetime Top 100 prospects.

But the star power that the Twins hoped would return to drive this stretch run is still elusive -- and the Twins will need to find a way.

“We’re going to have to do it as a team,” Baldelli said. “We’re going to have to do it by winning individual at-bats that recently we haven’t been winning.”