MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins placed All-Star center fielder Byron Buxton on the 10-day injured list Tuesday due to a rib injury.
The move, retroactive to Sunday, comes after Buxton was removed from the Twins’ game against the Washington Nationals in the seventh inning on Saturday with soreness in his side. An MRI on Sunday revealed irritation in the cartilage in his rib cage.
“Buck's doing fine,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It's just, he's not going to be ready in the next day or two. And that's all it really boils down to. ... We think there's a reasonable chance he'll be ready sooner than later.”
Buxton is in the midst of a career season. In 85 games, Buxton is hitting .282 with 23 home runs and 59 RBIs. He’s also 17 for 17 in stolen bases.
The 31-year-old has been mostly healthy this season, which has not always been the case. Since playing in 140 games in 2017, he hadn’t played in more than 102 games in any season.
Buxton spent 15 days on the IL in late May with a concussion and rebounded to earn his second All-Star Game nod.
Minnesota Twins' Byron Buxton strikes out during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A 24-year-old man was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of an elderly Thai man whose 2021 killing in San Francisco helped spark a national movement against anti-Asian American violence.
A jury did not find Antoine Watson guilty of murder when it returned a verdict Thursday for the January 2021 attack on 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee. Jurors found Watson guilty on the lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault.
The office of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins declined to comment, saying that the jury was still empaneled. Jurors will return Jan. 26 to hear arguments on aggravating factors and sentencing will be scheduled once that is completed, the office said in an email.
Vicha Ratanapakdee was out for his usual morning walk in the quiet neighborhood he lived in with his wife, daughter and her family when Watson charged at him and knocked him to the ground. The encounter was captured on a neighbor's security camera. Ratanapakdee died two days later, never regaining consciousness.
His family says he was attacked because of his race, but hate crime charges were not filed and the argument was not raised in trial. Prosecutors have said hate crimes are difficult to prove absent statements by the suspect.
Watson testified on the stand that he was in a haze of confusion and anger at the time of the unprovoked attack, according to KRON-TV. He said he lashed out and didn't know that Ratanapakdee was Asian or elderly.
San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju, whose office defended Watson, extended his sympathies to the victim's family and said the defendant is “fully remorseful for his mistake.”
“While this death was a terrible tragedy and has garnered a lot of press attention, the importance of our legal system is that it gives us a chance to look at the facts in a balanced way,” he said in a statement.
Hundreds of people in five other U.S. cities joined in commemorating the anniversary of Ratanapakdee's death in 2022, all of them seeking justice for Asian Americans who have been harassed, assaulted, and even killed in alarming numbers since the start of the pandemic.
Asians in America have long been subject to prejudice and discrimination, but the attacks escalated sharply after the coronavirus first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China. More than 10,000 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders were reported to the Stop AAPI Hate coalition from March 2020 through September 2021.
The incidents involved shunning, racist taunting and physical assaults.
FILE - Flowers are left with pictures of 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee during a rally attended by hundreds of people on Jan. 30, 2022, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Janie Har, File)
FILE - Monthanus Ratanapakdee holds a photo of her father, 84-year-old Vicha Ratanapakdee, and stands in front of the San Francisco apartment building where he was attacked last year and later died of his injuries, on Jan. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Terry Chea, File)
