Twins try to reboot after a shaky week, with Lewis back and Buxton sidelined

The Minnesota Twins came into Monday still searching for anything resembling momentum, after another uneven stretch that left them at 30-37 and 3.0 games behind the wild-card line. Yahoo Sports’ weekly roundup also described the week as a split against the Chicago White Sox followed by a series loss to the Kansas City Royals, a combination that kept Minnesota from turning its early-season staying-power into a real push.

One bright spot is that Royce Lewis is back in the picture, and the club has treated his return like a work in progress rather than a simple homecoming. Earlier in the week, reported that Lewis, recently optioned, was taking reps and exploring other defensive spots as he worked his swing at Triple-A St. Paul. At the minor-league level, St. Paul’s game story around his Saints work included him starting at second base and driving in a run with big-power production, including a grand slam in a 10-1 win.

When Lewis returned to the majors, the positional plan stayed flexible. According to Yahoo Sports, he started at second base on Saturday and first base on Sunday after being recalled, but the early results have been bumpy, with a combined 1-for-8 over those two games. The Twins’ willingness to keep moving him around suggests they are prioritizing opportunities to get him playable at multiple spots, rather than waiting for the ideal matchup to force him into a single role.

The second storyline in Minnesota is injury management, and it started with Byron Buxton leaving Friday’s game against the Royals after colliding with the outfield wall while making a running catch. ’s game coverage confirmed that Buxton exited with injury, and the Twins later listed him as sitting out again after the shoulder issue. For a lineup that has been living on fine margins, the practical question now is how quickly (or if) Buxton can get back to being a regular presence in center field.

Roster work also continued off the field, with a notable pitching move that changes the picture of depth and innings planning. reported that the Twins traded right-hander Simeon Woods-Richardson to the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations on June 3. Woods-Richardson had been in Minnesota’s organization and was heading back to the club where he was once a top prospect, a reminder of how quickly the league’s evaluation cycles can turn. For the Twins, the trade was a straight roster reset, not a multi-player overhaul.

With that background, this week’s schedule becomes more than just a calendar item. On Tuesday, June 9, Minnesota opens a stretch at Detroit, according to the MLB schedule, and the series then carries into midweek. Then, starting Friday, June 12, the Twins are scheduled to host the St. Louis Cardinals, continuing the push against familiar opponents in the American League and National League matchup mix.

In standings terms, Minnesota’s record leaves the Twins in a position that is neither comfortably building nor fully out of contention. The AL Central shows how compressed the wild-card picture can be, and ’s standings page places the Twins at 30-37 with 3.0 games of wild-card ground to cover as of Monday. The key for Minnesota is whether the roster can absorb disruption without surrendering too much ground, especially while Lewis is still finding his timing and Buxton’s availability remains uncertain.

What to watch next is simple but urgent: can Lewis translate the positional experimentation into consistent at-bats against the next round of opponents, and can the Buxton situation resolve without forcing additional lineup compromises? The Tigers and Cardinals are the immediate test set, and the Twins’ ability to play winning baseball through early-June schedule stress will determine whether their current flexibility becomes a bridge toward contention or just another chapter in a season that has not yet stabilized.