The Minnesota Twins are in the midst of a dream stretch of 10 wins in a row, but they watched it nearly turn into a nightmare before their very eyes in a scary moment during Thursday's game against the Baltimore Orioles.
Cedric Mullins lifted a pop-up to shallow center field in the bottom of the third inning. Correa went back on the ball while Buxton came in, and neither player pulled up in time to avoid a violent collision. Buxton somehow held on to the ball to secure the out, but both players remained on the ground in visible pain.
Correa was removed from the game immediately, replaced by Brooks Lee at short. Buxton finished the half-inning in center field but was taken out prior to the bottom of the fourth. The team later announced that both players had entered into concussion protocol; they'll both continue to be evaluated in the coming days to determine whether a stint on the 7-day concussion IL is required.
On the one hand, it's good to hear that this collision wasn't even worse. But concussions are obviously a serious issue, and there's no telling how a player might recover from one if that is indeed the diagnosis.
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Twins can't afford to lose Carlos Correa or Byron Buxton
This is the news that every Twins fans lived in fear of, even amidst this recent winning streak. You could easily make the argument that Buxton and Correa are Minnesota's two most important position players, but both come with lengthy injury histories that have sent past Twins seasons sideways. The specter of not just one but the two of them going down on the same play is nightmare fuel, and threatens to derail all the good work the team has done of late.
Correa got off to a slow start at the plate, but he has four multi-hit games in his last seven and was hitting .300 for the month of May. Beyond that, his defense at shortstop has remained excellent despite wrist discomfort that has plagued him since spring, and he's the team's highest-paid player and clear emotional leader. If he's forced to miss time, Lee figures to slot in at short, with Edouard Julien, Willi Castro, Kody Clemens and Jonah Bride all looming as options at the keystone.
But if Correa is the Twins' heart, Buxton is its soul, the homegrown star whose jaw-dropping talent has been matched only by his inability to stay on the field for extended periods of time. The former top prospect has played over 100 games in a season just once in his 11-year career, dogged by everything from hip to back to knee to hamstring to shoulder injuries. It seemed like this might finally be the year he bucked that trend, with an .813 OPS and his usual excellent defense in center while playing in 40 of his team's first 43 games.
It's possible that both players dodged a major bullet here and will be able to return to the field after a couple of days off. But Twins fans have been down this road one too many times before, and you can forgive them for assuming the worst until proven otherwise.