Twins place Byron Buxton on 10-day IL with ‘right knee inflammation’

Minnesota Twins fans have been caught in an awkward situation, both celebrating a 10-game winning streak while also holding their breath over another potential Byron Buxton injury.

Buxton left Wednesday's win over the Chicago White Sox in the second inning after coming up limping while trying to steal a base. He exited the game immediately but we didn't hear much more after that.

Initially it was determined that Buxton was suffering from right knee soreness, which was less than ideal given his history with knee injuries. The fact that we didn't hear anything right away on Friday felt like good news, but a trip to the IL seemed likely no matter what.

That's confirmation we got late Friday afternoon, as the Twins placed him on the injured list with the official diagnosis being right knee inflammation. Whether or not that ends up being the full extent of the injury is yet to be seen, but we at least know the plan moving forward over the next few days.

Twins place Byron Buxton on 10-day IL, recall Austin Martin from Triple-A

News that Buxton is heading to the IL isn't at all surprising, nor is word that his replacement in the lineup will be Austin Martin. After shutting Buxton down, the Twins announced that the corresponding move would be recalling Marting from St. Paul and adding him back to the 26-man roster.

Martin made sense as Buxton's insurance policy during Spring Training, but he was bumped out of the picture after the Twins traded for Manuel Margot.

That was a curious move, although one that made sense at the time. Margot's offensive potential was seemingly the tiebreaker between trading for him or brining back Michael A. Taylor, a gamble that has aged incredibly poorly.

Margot has been truly awful at the plate this year, hitting an abysmal .182/.270/.255 and bunting in two outs bases loaded situations. Meanwhile, Taylor is hitting .253/.301/.293 with the Pirates and making the Twins look foolish for passing him over.

Margot has a chance to change that narrative on a dime, though. He'll see increased playing time with Buxton out but will have Martin close behind him the whole way. It's a good spot for the Twins to be in as far as motivation for Margot to turn things around and having Martin presented with another opportunity to make an impact.

We'll see how things play out, but the biggest concern remains Buxton's health. He had looked so good over the first month of the season and to have him run into some bad injury luck is a setback nobody was prepared to deal with.

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