Byron Buxton is nearing a rehab assignment, a sign that the inflammation in his right knee has calmed and the Twins’ center fielder is close to a return.

Buxton has been on the injured list since May 3 after his knee, which he has twice had offseason surgery on, flared up while running the bases two days earlier against the Chicago White Sox.

He said the knee now feels “normal,” and that while he’s running, he’s trying not to overdo it since he felt the pain.

“It could be worse,” Buxton said. “To be able to be upfront and get ahead of this type of a problem is big.”

On Tuesday, he participated in a workout with his teammates at Target Field and said he would know much more about his status after that. He had stayed back in the Twin Cities  over the weekend while the team traveled north of the border to play the Toronto Blue Jays.

Buxton ran the bases on Saturday and Monday, head athletic trainer Nick Paparesta said, and has been doing outfield work along with hitting activities.

“With Byron’s knee, we have to be a little bit cognizant of the fact that he hasn’t really had a short IL stint with that,” Paparesta said. “It’s always been a long-term type situation. For him to get out there and do those things, he just has to gain a little bit more of that confidence and trust in that thing and that’s kind of where we are now.”

While the Twins have not announced when Buxton will play rehab games, the Triple-A St. Paul Saints are home this week and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said he expected that would come “later on this week at some point.”

“We’re going to give him a few more days to settle into some high-speed activity and then I think we can activate him,” Baldelli said. “I don’t have a date yet obviously. We’ll set those at-bats up first and then just start there.”

Topa sidelined for lengthy period

Justin Topa was crutching through the Twins’ clubhouse on Tuesday, his left knee immobilized in a large brace.

The Twins’ reliever was out on a rehab assignment with the Saints — his fourth game — when his knee pain forced him to shut things down again.

Topa had magnetic resonance imaging which he said revealed a 25% tear in his patella tendon. He received a platelet-rich plasma and stem cell injection, as well as multiple opinions on his knee.

The team has chosen a path that will allow Topa to avoid surgery for now, but it also means he won’t be doing any throwing or baseball activities for the next six weeks, Paparesta said.

“The injection was the best option to get back as fast as possible,” Topa said. “ … My goal from day one has (been) to get this done and over with and pitch this year and make an impact this year. Unfortunately, there’s a sense of a waste of six weeks after the first go-round. This time, we’re on the right track.”

Of all the injuries he’s had — which include a plethora of elbow problems — this has been the most frustrating from a rehab standpoint.

But there’s still hope that he can return and salvage some of the season, which is the goal after a breakout year in 2023.

“To have this, what I thought was a small little thing snowball into a bigger, longer rehab type thing, it’s extremely frustrating, especially coming over to a new organization, getting the camaraderie of everybody in spring training,” Topa said. “You feel like you’re part of the team, but not, in a sense.”

Other injury updates

Infielder Royce Lewis (quadriceps) is working through his running progression. Paparesta said they’re currently doing change-of-direction running with him and will then move into a progression on the bases, which he expects to be lengthier since Lewis has been out since getting injured on Opening Day in late March.

Lewis has been taking ground balls at third and hitting. Completing his running progression will be the final hurdle before he can go out on a rehab assignment, Paparesta said.

“Once we get on the bases, we’re going to try to keep it as hectic and crazy and unknown for him as possible, try to do it on back-to-back days just like you would play in the minor leagues on a rehab assignment,” Paparesta said. “That’s kind of the next stage. That’s kind of the final box checked (and then) we can go out there and go play.”

Reliever Brock Stewart had a PRP injection in his shoulder on Monday, Paparesta said, adding that they hope to see Stewart throwing again “here in the short term.”

“We have to get his arm strength where it needs to be,” Paparesta said. “We have to get his range of motion where it needs to be.”

Josh Winder (shoulder) is rehabbing with the Triple-A Saints. He is throwing in multi-inning outings.

Prospect Matt Canterino (shoulder) is long tossing from 90 feet. The Twins hope to get him off the mound in June, Paparesta said.

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Local favorites Semisonic, country star Phil Vassar and one of the Ramones are among the artists set to play the Minnesota State Fair’s largest free stage, the Leinie Lodge Bandshell.

The State Fair’s newly announced free stage entertainment lineup features more than 900 shows throughout the Great Minnesota Get-Together’s 12-day run.

The Leinie Lodge lineup includes:

Phil Vassar (Aug. 22-23): Vassar began his Nashville career in the late ’90s, co-writing singles for the likes of Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina and Alan Jackson. He went on to release a series of hits of his own in the ’00s, including “Just Another Day in Paradise,” “In a Real Love,” “Last Day of My Life” and “Love Is a Beautiful Thing.”

Maggie Rose (Aug. 24-25): The singer/songwriter emerged in 2009 with a cover of Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody.” In the years since, Rose has scored a handful of minor country radio hits, while earning praise for her soulful singing and stage presence.

The War and Treaty (Aug. 26-27): The husband-and-wife duo are known for performing passionate soul music that draws on country, folk, R&B and gospel. They’ve collaborated with Emmylou Harris, Jason Isbell and Zach Bryan and earned a best new artist Grammy nomination last year.

Marky Ramone (Aug. 28-29): All four of the original members of New York punk legends the Ramones have died, but drummer Marky Ramone is keeping their music alive. He joined the band in 1978, when original drummer Tommy Ramone stepped down to become the group’s manager.

Moon Taxi (Aug. 30-31): The Nashville jam band has built an audience through heavy touring, including opening for Gov’t Mule, Umphrey’s McGee and Matisyahu and maintaining a steady presence playing festivals. They earned a radio hit in 2017 with “Two High.”

Semisonic (Sept. 1-2): Formed by former Trip Shakespeare bandmates Dan Wilson and John Munson, along with drummer Jacob Slichter, Semisonic scored a massive hit with their 1998 ballad “Closing Time,” which topped the Billboard modern rock tracks chart. It went on to earn a Grammy nomination for best rock song and hit the charts in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. After taking a two-decade break from recording, the trio released their fourth album “Little Bit of Sun” in November.

The full lineup with showtimes for all free stages is online at mnstatefair.org.

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By MARCIA DUNN (AP Aerospace Writer)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The sun produced its biggest flare in nearly a decade Tuesday, just days after severe solar storms pummeled Earth and created dazzling northern lights in unaccustomed places.

“Not done yet!” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in an update.

It’s the biggest flare of this 11-year solar cycle, which is approaching its peak, according to NOAA. The good news is that Earth should be out of the line of fire this time because the flare erupted on a part of the sun moving away from Earth.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the bright flash of the X-ray flare. It was the strongest since 2005, rated on the scale for these flares as X8.7.

Bryan Brasher at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado said it may turn out to have been even stronger when scientists gather data from other sources.

It follows nearly a week of flares and mass ejections of coronal plasma that threatened to disrupt power and communications on Earth and in orbit.

NASA said the weekend geomagnetic storm caused one of its environmental satellites to rotate unexpectedly because of reduced altitude from the space weather, and go into a protective hibernation known as safe mode. And at the International Space Station, the seven astronauts were advised to stay in areas with strong radiation shielding. The crew was never in any danger, according to NASA.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.