Watch: Byron Buxton leaves game after getting hit by pitch (Video)

One of the ongoing themes of the Minnesota Twins season so far has been how badly the team has been bitten by the injury bug. Bad luck has forced players like Joey Gallo, Carlos Correa, and Kenta Maeda out of the mix for Minnesota, and it might have knocked another important player out on Thursday against Cleveland.

Buxton has already given us a scare this year, leaving a game earlier in the season against the Chicago White Sox after getting flipped in the air during a collision on the base path. He once again found himself on the wrong side of injury luck on Thursday against Cleveland.

In the fourth inning, Buxton took a pitch right to his ribs. While he walked off the initial hit, he ended up needing to leave the game and was ruled out with what the team called ‘rib soreness’.

Byron Buxton leaves game after getting hit by pitch (Video)

Buxton took pitch from Shane Bieber square in the ribs.

It didn’t look good, no matter what the angle was.

The last thing the Twins need is to lose Buxton to an injury. That’s a life Minnesota has lived in the past, and it’s typically one that doesn’t fo very well.

While the team is bigger than just Buxton, not having him in the lineup has tended to correlate with the team falling back in the AL Central. His health is one of the reasons manager Rocco Baldelli has yet to play Buxton in the field this year, as the though process seems to be the best thing for the Twins is to preserve Buxton for as long as possible.

Michael A. Taylor has been the Twins everyday centerfielder with Buxton serving exclusively as designated hitter. Rib soreness seems to be better than how things could have gone and the team won’t be out of the woods until an official update comes down, but there’s reason to be optimistic until then.