KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Byron Buxton said he would be OK after getting hit by a pitch on his left knee and exiting early in the Twins’ 5-1 victory against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday.

Buxton, who led off the game with his 30th home run, went down to the ground for a few moments after right-hander Michael Lorenzen hit him with a 92 mph sinker in the fifth inning. Buxton stayed in the game to run the bases, and he returned to center field for the bottom of the fifth and the sixth. By the seventh, the pain was telling him to cut it short.

But he sounded optimistic that he’d be ready to play Monday at Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels.

“It got me good enough to come out,” Buxton said. “I tried to fight a little bit through it, but just trying to be smart and make sure I’m ready for tomorrow.”

Happy to have the Twins break a six-game losing streak, Buxton also was excited to realize that his long ball made him the franchise’s second player to reach at least 30 homers and 20 steals in the same season since Kirby Puckett in 1986. Buxton needs nine stolen bases for 30 and has 19 games to get there.

“I don’t even know what to say to that,” Buxton said. “Obviously Kirby was a big icon here, so to be in a club like that with him is… I’ll think on that. It’s special.”

Buxton’s homer also tied him with Tom Brunansky for 10th all-time on the Twins career homer list with 163. Brian Dozier is ninth at 167.

Kody Clemens later added a two-run homer that went an estimated 451 feet to center. “An absolute bomb,” manager Rocco Baldelli said, “that gave us some separation.”

Ober achiever

Right-hander Bailey Ober made his best start in a month, and picked up a win for the first time since May 3 by allowing a run, four hits and a walk to go with six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. Ober said the individual win meant little to him, but pitching well enough for the Twins to win was huge.

Ober (4-8) did the work mostly by bypassing his fastball, which was still registering below his season average velocity and his velo from 2024. Ober came in with a 5.23 ERA.

“I wouldn’t say it was intentional,” Ober said. “It was just kind of seeing what they were on and what they weren’t. I felt like I was able to mix and locate my off-speed, whether that was changeups or the hard slider or the sweeper. So I felt like I had that rolling, and they weren’t adjusting as early as I thought they might be.”

Jeffers put on concussion IL

Catcher Ryan Jeffers just didn’t progress fast enough for the Twins to avoid putting him on the concussion IL. He took two foul tips off his headgear Thursday against the White Sox in Chicago, and missed the Royals series entirely, though the Twins played with a short roster the first two games in Kansas City while they evaluated Jeffers reactions.

The move was retroactive two days to Friday. Jeffers traveled Sunday morning back to the Twin Cities. Carson McCusker and Pierson Ohl were added from Triple-A St. Paul, and right-hander Brooks Kriske was designated for assignment or release.

Twins trainer Nick Paparesta said Jeffers appeared to be improving early Saturday, but some symptoms — like feeling groggy — didn’t disappear late in the day.

“His symptoms [at first] were basically like fogginess, just kind of out of it,” Paparesta said. “He felt difficulty processing and just struggling to be his normal self. The first day we got to Kansas City, those symptoms remained. He did look better Saturday… but as the day went along, those symptoms never went away. They were still there and present.”

Paparesta said it was his understanding that Jeffers never had a concussion as a major leaguer before.

Topa startled by knee pain

Trying to close out the game, right-hander Justin Topa made a pitch in the ninth inning and felt a pain in his knee similar to the patellar tendon injury that ruined most of his 2024 season. He left the game and a save opportunity to Génesis Cabrera, who closed out the Royals with Mike Yastrzemski as the tying run at the plate.

After getting with the medical staff, Topa doubts the knee injury is too serious.

“I kinda had just like a zinger,” Topa said. “Felt it in the patella tendon. Literally the first time I felt anything there all year. So that’s why I was a little taken aback.”

Topa missed most of the 2024 season in part because of a knee injury he sustained in Spring Training. This is not that, even if it frightened him for a bit.

“Obviously, with the history last year and everything that was going on, we just said to take a look at it,” said Topa, who picked up a hold with his scoreless inning-plus, lowering his ERA to 3.90.

“Doctor said that structurally, everything looks good,” Topa said. “He just kind of pressed around almost trying to make it feel that way again and it didn’t, which is good.”

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St. Paul homeowners can expect one of the largest property tax increases in recent memory next year, and the city’s poorest neighborhoods will be hit especially hard.

The market values of residential properties in Ramsey County are up nearly 5% over last year, while apartments and commercial buildings are down about 2-3% and agricultural land is down nearly 17%.

Those changing values mean homeowners must cover a greater share of the property tax burden at a time when the city, county and school district are planning big increases to their tax levies. Meanwhile, about $1 out of every $7 of market value in the city is a property that doesn’t pay taxes, such as a college, government building, church or other nonprofit.

“Declining commercial and apartment values are shifting the property tax burden to residential taxpayers,” County Auditor Tracy West told the County Board of Commissioners recently, “and exempt properties do not generate tax and make up 14% of the county’s market value.”

The Ramsey County Board of Commissioners has discussed raising its property tax levy by 9.75%, and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter wants a 5.3% increase for the city.

St. Paul Public Schools will release its tax plan in the coming weeks, but whatever they do will be in addition to a ballot referendum that asks voters to pay another $37.2 million per year for 10 years.

Neighborhood differences

Each year, Ramsey County’s tax office details the cost increases facing the owners of median homes in suburban cities and St. Paul neighborhoods. So far, their analysis is limited to the cost of just the county’s own 9.75% increase.

According to a Tuesday presentation to the Board of Commissioners, St. Paul home values are rising fastest in the most affordable neighborhoods, which means they’ll see the largest tax increases, at least as a percentage of what they’re paying.

The county levy alone will cost the median Frogtown homeowner another $228, or 7.3%, with similar impacts in Payne/Phalen, the North End and West Side.

Como, Hamline-Midway, Dayton’s Bluff and Summit/University homeowners won’t pay quite that much.

And Sunray/Battle Creek/Highwood and St. Anthony Park will see some of the lowest tax hikes in the city, while downtown owners may even see a decrease.

The picture throughout the rest of the county is more mixed. The wealthiest city, North Oaks, has seen a county-high 7.6% increase in its property values, which means about a $900 increase in what the median home pays for the county levy. On the low end, the typical North St. Paul home will pay just $62 more.

The actual tax increases for homeowners will be much greater than the county analysis shows, as Ramsey County’s levy accounts for just 35% of what property owners pay in property taxes.

Levy plans announced so far — including the city, county and school referendum, but not the regular St. Paul Public Schools levy or smaller taxing authorities — will cost the median St. Paul resident an additional $620 next year.

The county will add the St. Paul levy to its analysis next week and will incorporate other taxing jurisdictions once final numbers are certified Sept. 30.

Falling commercial values

The slide of commercial values is nothing new, and some of the steepest have been in downtown St. Paul. The U.S. Bank Center on 5th Street has seen its estimated market value slide from $21.7 million in 2024 to $20 million this year, and down to an estimated $14 million for the purpose of calculating taxes in 2026.

Corresponding property taxes for U.S. Bank Center will have fallen precipitously from $729,000 last year to an estimated $495,000 next year.

Downtown St. Paul commercial properties have lost about 11% of their value from one year to the next, compared to almost 2% in Ramsey County’s commercial properties as a whole.

The 3M headquarters on McKnight Road in Maplewood carried an estimated market value of $98 million in 2024, which fell to $93.6 million over the past year, according to the county. That value will fall to $89.8 million next year.

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Acorn Mini-Storage on Cleveland Avenue in Roseville — formerly a HOM Furniture store — has seen its estimated market value drop from $7.43 million to $6.7 million in two years.

While apartment values in the county have dropped another 3%, according to County Assessor Pat Chapman, “We’re finally getting to a place where the market has enough units to make values level off.”

Maybe superstar receiver Justin Jefferson would’ve handled everything differently if he hadn’t suffered a severe hamstring injury a couple of years ago. Maybe he would’ve ignored what he was feeling in the early stages in training camp. Maybe he would’ve tried to play through the pain.

There’s a chance he would’ve been completely fine. There’s also a chance he would’ve made it much worse.

None of those hypotheticals matter because Jefferson chose to report the minor soreness in his muscle. He remembers how frustrating it was to sit out a couple of years ago. He didn’t want to go down that road again.

“I definitely didn’t want it to reoccur,” Jefferson said. “Just kind of communicating and coming to an understanding that maybe we should step back a little bit.”

The result was Jefferson missing virtually all of training camp at TCO Performance Center to make sure he was ready to roll when when it really mattered. The plan worked out as Jefferson is back too 100 percent with Vikings preparing to play the Chicago Bears on Monday night at Soldier Field.

“I feel great,” Jefferson said. “It’s definitely a credit to the guys in the training room for really prepping me up to this point.”

Though he couldn’t practice with his teammates while he was trying to get back to full strength, Jefferson still made the most of training camp, spending a few weeks more or less serving as the NFL’s most expensive assistant coach.

Whether he was chopping it up with head coach Kevin O’Connell, getting on the same page as young quarterback J.J. McCarthy, or offering some tips to fellow receiver Jordan Addison, Jefferson was very much present even when he was absent.

“You felt like he was in the huddle on some plays,” O’Connell said. “Just because of his presence.”

That positivity from Jefferson noticeably raised the bar for everybody else.

“We saw a lot of leadership from him at maybe the hardest time to really show it,” offensive coordinator Wes Phillips said. “He brought a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm throughout the whole process.”

All the while Jefferson was working hard on his own behind the scenes. His ultimate goal was to be able hit the ground running — literally and figuratively — when he was cleared to be back around his teammates.

“It wasn’t just him in recovery mode and getting back to a certain baseline,” O’Connell said. “He elevated by getting stronger and really focusing in on some of the stuff that would allow him to have a fast transition.”

Just because he’s been back at practice for a couple of weeks doesn’t mean Jefferson has completely renounced his role as the NFL’s most expensive assistant coach. He’s been been helping veteran receiver Adam Thielen get reacclimated after the Vikings brought him home via trade with the Carolina Panthers.

“We were kind of laughing about it,” Thielen said. “He’s been helping me out with the plays. It’s funny because it was obviously the opposite early in his career. That was really cool for him to kind of be teaching me this offense.”

As soon as he got back to practice, Jefferson started carving out extra time to work with McCarthy, doing everything in his power to build that rapport before the Vikings play the Bears in primetime.

“I definitely feel back in the rhythm,” Jefferson said. “Just working with him for a couple of weeks consistently getting the timing down.”

Not that it’s too hard for McCarthy to get on the same page as Jefferson.

“I know the more times I can throw that guy the ball the better,” McCarthy said. “He’s the greatest receiver in the world so him being out there and me being able to put up a ball in his vicinity makes it easy to have some good chemistry with him.”

Briefly

After initially being listed as double, veteran safety Harrison Smith has been downgraded to out. He will not travel with the Vikings for the matchup with the Bears.

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By JANIE HAR

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. John Burton, a salty-tongued and unabashedly liberal San Francisco Democrat who stood up for the working class and nurtured countless political careers, including that of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, died Sunday. He was 92.

Burton died in San Francisco of natural causes, his family said in a statement.

Tributes poured in from California’s top politicians, who recalled Burton as a fierce and tireless advocate for laborers, foster children and the environment. Over the years, Burton mentored Pelosi, former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, current U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and countless other California officials.

“There was no greater champion for the poor, the bullied, the disabled, and forgotten Californians than John Burton. He was a towering figure — a legendary force whose decades of service shaped our state and our politics for the better,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, in a statement.

Another former San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown, said Sunday that death had managed to separate him from a dear friend who was by his side for decades — as college students where they first met, as fellow newbies in the state Assembly and as influential members of California’s Democratic political machine.

“John Burton may have been the best person with whom I served as a member of the Legislature,” said Brown.

Burton believed that government was at its best when it served those who needed it the most, and he never backed down from a fight, said state Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks.

“The greatest way to honor John Burton is to keep fighting with the same grit, tenacity, and heart that defined his life,” Hicks said in a statement.

“He cared a lot,” said Burton’s daughter, Kimiko Burton. “He always instilled in me that we fight for the underdog. There are literally millions of people whose lives he helped over the years who have no idea who he is.”

John Lowell Burton was born Dec. 15, 1932, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in San Francisco with plans to teach history and coach high school basketball.

But he followed his older brother, Phillip Burton, into politics and in 1964 was elected to the state Assembly. A decade later, he moved on to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he pushed legislation protecting wilderness areas in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and condemning apartheid in South Africa.

Burton stepped down in 1982 to address a cocaine addiction, but he didn’t stay gone for long.

In 1988, he returned to the California Assembly and in 1996 he won a state Senate seat, rising to become the chamber’s president. He retired from elected politics in 2004 — only to head up the California Democratic Party from 2009 to 2017.

After retiring, he founded a nonprofit dedicated to foster youth. A remembrance posted Sunday by John Burton Advocates for Youth quoted his exasperation with the lack of resources available for foster youth who aged out of the foster care system.

“Emancipated from what? And into what?” he asked. “Into not being able to have a roof over their heads? Into being frozen out of a chance at higher education? Into unemployment? Into a life on the welfare rolls? Into homelessness? Into jail?”

The organization has advocated successfully for more than 50 legislative reforms, including financial aid for college and extending foster care for some from age 18 to 21.

Barbara Lee, a former U.S. congresswoman and current Oakland mayor, said that in spite of his health challenges, Burton was determined to attend her public inauguration in June, and he did.

“His life’s work reminds us that authentic leadership means having the courage to speak truth to power and never forgetting where you came from,” she said.

In addition to his daughter, Kimiko, Burton is survived by two grandchildren, Juan and Mikala.

Plans for a celebration of life are pending. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to the John Burton Advocates for Youth.