The Twins opened summer camp comforted by knowing that outfielder Byron Buxton's left shoulder had enough time during the shutdown to heal and that he would be available for the delayed Opening Day.
But now his foot injury on Monday might force them to reconsider that.
Buxton was carted off the field during an intrasquad scrimmage Monday after injuring his left foot while closing in on a fly ball.
The Twins announced moments after the play that Buxton had suffered a left foot injury and was being taken for imaging exams.
"We took Byron inside to get looked at by the medical staff," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "Fortunately, relatively speaking, the initial once-over didn't show anything, which I take as a cautiously optimistic good sign. But we're going to go ahead and do a lot of other assessments and imaging tonight and tomorrow just to see what we can find and go from there.
"That's probably what you're hoping to see, but we also know that any time a guy is coming off the field — and you want to make sure he's not walking off the field — we're going to make sure we get him a full look over by the medical staff."
Nelson Cruz was batting against Jose Berrios when Cruz sent a deep drive to center. Buxton went back on the ball and had plenty of time to make the catch, but a breeze coming in from center forced him to change direction back toward home plate. As soon as that occurred he sat down on the grass and assistant trainer Matt Biancuzzo rushed toward him.
