Right knee puts Twins' Byron Buxton back on injured list, Brock Stewart injured too

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The first time Byron Buxton took off for second base during Wednesday's game, he reported not feeling much of an issue with his knee. The second time, he felt it a little bit.

The third time, his knee "kind of locked up on him," president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said, forcing him to shut things down.

Buxton ended up jogging to second, where he was tagged out easily. He didn't slide and walked gingerly off the field, exiting the game.

The Twins wanted to wait to see how he came in feeling Friday before making any decisions, but after the center fielder reported he was still dealing with inflammation and soreness in his twice surgically-repaired right knee, the Twins put him on the 10-day injured list.

The good news for Buxton is that magnetic resonance imaging revealed no structural damage, and both Falvey and manager Rocco Baldelli expressed hope that Buxton would be able to come off the injured list within 10 days to two weeks.

"He complains about nothing. If it were up to him, he would never tell us that he wasn't where he wants to be (physically)," Baldelli said. "He would just keep playing. He plays through everything. From what I heard, I am pretty optimistic that this is not something that is going to hold him down an overly long time."

Buxton had returned to center field this season after spending all of last year serving as the team's designated hitter because of the knee. He reported feeling much better when he arrived to spring training and appeared in 28 of the Twins' first 30 games before landing on the injured list.

Baldelli said he didn't expect Buxton's usage to change much upon his return from the injured list beyond maybe "a game or two less here and there."

In his absence, The Twins will primarily turn to Willi Castro and Austin Martin, who was recalled from Triple-A to take his spot on the roster, in center field.

Stewart to IL

The injury news didn't end there for the Twins. They also lost one of their top arms on Friday, placing reliever Brock Stewart on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder tendinitis and recalling Kody Funderburk from Triple-A.

Stewart, who had given up just one run in 13 1/3 innings this season (0.68 ERA), has a lengthy injury history. Last year, he missed three months with a nerve issue in his arm.

Baldelli said Stewart had been dealing with the issue for around a week.

"This is us really trying to get ahead of something and not trying to let it get down the road where he's missing a significant period of time," Baldelli said. "He's still throwing the ball really well. The ball's coming out good. He's throwing a lot pregame. But it doesn't feel the way it needs to feel right now."

Topa update

Reliever Justin Topa will continue to build up at St. Paul as the Twins bring him back from patellar tendinitis in his left knee. Topa already has thrown in multiple rehab outings at Triple-A.

"He hasn't felt at 100 percent yet," Falvey said. "He hasn't felt like he's really where he needs to be, but he's progressing well. We don't want to rush that. We want to make sure he's back and feeling good and feeling like he can execute the pitches he wants to execute. So we're going to take a little more time with the rehab assignment."

Sausagemania

There were plenty of references to the Twins' lucky rally sausage planted throughout the clubhouse upon their return back to Minneapolis.

Players wore shirts that featured the outline of the state of Minnesota with a caricature of a sausage swinging a bat overlaid on it. The shirt read, "Home Run Sausage," and "Twin Cities," on it and was sent over by BreakingT.

Over in the coaches' room, there was a large flag planted that read "Our sausage hits," with a Sheboygan logo on it. On a table near the entrance, there was a big box of squishy toy hot dogs, also sent over by Sheboygan, the official sausage of the Minnesota Twins.

And in Baldelli's office, someone had dropped off a packaged sausage. The actual one was in a refrigerator in the coaches' room, Baldelli said.

"We keep it away from the players until the last possible second, when the game starts," he said.

Briefly

— The Twins optioned Caleb Boushley to Triple-A and recalled reliever Jorge Alcala. Alcala had a 0.00 earned-run average in six games before being optioned to Triple-A in April.

— The Twins traded reliever Matt Bowman to Arizona for cash considerations Thursday. Bowman had been designated for assignment by the Twins earlier in the week

— Saturday will mark the Twins' first Pablo Day. The special ticket package, which is for home games that Pablo López starts, includes a ticket to the game and a Venezuela-themed López jersey. A portion of the earnings from ticket sales will go towards three charities selected by López and his wife, Kaylee.