One was suspended. The other was injured. Both returned to the Twins lineup Tuesday.
"These are two guys and, we obviously have others, but two guys that our group has been waiting to see back out there," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.
And Michael Pineda and Byron Buxton both announced their returns with authority as the Twins ended their six-game losing streak by scrambling from an early deficit to beat the White Sox 3-2 at Target Field.
Pineda, the righthander who had to serve a 60-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy last season, gave up two runs in the first inning to one of the hottest offenses in baseball, but settled in to shut the White Sox down for the next five.
"After that [first inning], I come back and I say, 'We have to pitch right now. I want to execute good [pitches],' " Pineda said. "Yeah, keep grinding on the mound."
Buxton, who landed on the injured list because of inflammation in his left shoulder, made sure Pineda kept putting up zeros by jumping at the wall in the sixth inning to catch a drive by Edwin Encarnacion that seemed to be headed for the flower patch beyond the fence in left-center. At the plate one inning later, his 106-miles-per-hour single to left drove in Nelson Cruz with the eventual game-winning run.
After the ninth — when Matt Wisler notched the second save of his career and Caleb Thielbar got his first MLB victory since 2014 — Buxton was able to celebrate with his trademark fadeaway jumper with fellow outfielders.