Buxton bullish on All-Star festivities, Ryan's scheduling shift

MINNEAPOLIS — Byron Buxton was held out of Thursday afternoon’s game against the Cubs, a day after he suffered a left hand contusion when he was hit by a pitch. The club remains hopeful that Buxton will not miss an extended period of time, but his status for the weekend as well as next week’s All-Star festivities in Atlanta remains somewhat unknown.

However, Buxton appeared on MLB Central on Thursday morning and sounded very much like a man who is still planning to take advantage of the opportunity to participate in the Home Run Derby in his home state.

With a short turnaround between Wednesday night and Thursday’s 12:10 p.m. CT game, it was always unlikely that the Twins were going to push Buxton. He was listed as an available reserve but ultimately was not considered a real option to play.

“I don’t have any additional news,” manager Rocco Baldelli said after the game. “I actually haven’t heard anything on additional news. He wasn’t going to play today. Ultimately, he was not going to get in the game today. It’s not actually a sign that anything negative occurred today during the day. We were just going to get him a day [off] and see if we can get him ready for tomorrow.”

X-rays on Buxton’s hand were negative, and the club has been optimistic regarding his situation since he was hit. He remained in the game to run the bases before being removed, which is standard protocol when there is not any fear of a broken bone.

On the year, Buxton is hitting .270/.338/.544 with 20 home runs and 17 steals in 17 attempts. He was named to his second All-Star team on Sunday and announced Monday that he intends to participate in the Home Run Derby for the first time.

When Joe Ryan wasn’t named as an All-Star on July 6, there was some concern that he might not be able to be added later as a replacement. Ryan was initially scheduled to pitch Saturday’s home game against the Pirates. And while there’s no rule that would eliminate him from consideration, it’s generally considered less than ideal. If you’re adding a pitcher to replace someone who’s unavailable to pitch, it’s only natural that that replacement pitcher would need to be … available to pitch.

So the Twins adjusted their rotation. They announced Wednesday that Ryan would pitch Friday’s series opener against Pittsburgh, meaning that he’d have three days rest before the Mid-Summer Classic. Perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, he was named to the team shortly thereafter.

The adjustment also made for a very tasty pitching matchup at Target Field, since Ryan will be going up against another All-Star. Like Ryan, Paul Skenes was moved up a day from his originally scheduled turn, presumably making him a more viable candidate for a potential start at Truist Park on Tuesday.

Thursday’s series finale against the Cubs did not go the way Chris Paddack wanted, for a variety of reasons. Of course there was the result — the 8-1 loss to Chicago. Paddack was knocked around for six runs in five innings, bringing his ERA to 8.48 over his last six starts.

“I thought they did a really good job, 1 through 9, having a game plan of attack versus me,” Paddack said. “I didn’t execute some pitches, more so offspeed down in the zone. I did get some swings at the top of the zone with those pitches but those were mistakes. So overall, I thought they did a really good job of having an overall game plan against me. My stuff wasn’t wipeout stuff today, but I kept battling and kept my head up. I tried to keep us in the game as long as I could. Just came up a little short today.”

On top of the results themselves, it was a personally meaningful start, since Paddack considers Cubs starter Colin Rea to be something of a mentor. When Paddack underwent Tommy John surgery as a Minor Leaguer in 2016, Rea, already a Major Leaguer, helped him face the process and lent a helping hand to the youngster. The two held a jersey swap in the dugout on Wednesday, and faced each other for the first time on Thursday.