ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Trevor Larnach has spent extended parts of the past couple of seasons either injured or at Triple-A. He was even optioned there this spring, though he began the season injured and then returned directly to the majors.

So the fact that he is in the middle of a playoff push as one of the most stable, productive members of the lineup is not something he wants to take for granted.

“I definitely don’t want that thought to sink in and think, ‘I’ve made it. I’m good,’” Larnach said. “I always want to keep pushing and finding something to keep going. This game will humble you so quick. Any time you think you’ve got it or you’re good, you get punched in the face somehow, and it’s your job to battle back.”

Larnach has done just that, taking his fair share of punches and battling back.

He’s in the midst of the best offensive season of his career, entering Tuesday hitting .354 with a .784 OPS and 118 OPS+, a number that is 18 percent better than the league-average hitter. His 15 home runs are a career high, and his15th, which came on Monday, was an important three-run home run that helped propel the Twins to a victory over Tampa Bay.

“He has been very consistently just going out there and producing,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “We’ve watched him mature in so many different, positive ways right before our eyes. … We’re not sitting here where we’re at without Trevor Larnach.”

It hasn’t all been smooth for Larnach this season. There’s been plenty of hard contact that has gone for naught — lineouts that haven’t fallen — enough so that he turned to different people, like teammate Carlos Santana and his agent, to ask if there was anything he should change.

“You hit two balls hard in a game, you kind of expect them to be hits, let alone extra-base hits. And when you’ve got nothing to show for it, it can drive you kind of nuts,” Larnach said.

He was told to stay the course. His process was good. The results would follow.

And they have.

“When he lines out two times a game for a week, which he has done probably more than most, he hasn’t changed,” Baldelli said. “He has been very, very consistent, and those hard-hit balls are turning into what we’re looking for right now.”

Briefly

Byron Buxton and the Triple-A Saints had Tuesday off, but the outfielder will continue his rehab assignment on Wednesday. He is expected to play nine innings in center field. … The Twins did not name a starting pitcher for Wednesday’s game, which has been listed as TBA, but Louie Varland joined the team in Florida. The Twins could have Varland start or opt to have a reliever begin the game and Varland pitch bulk innings after that, as he did in his last Triple-A outing. … Reliever Caleb Boushley cleared waivers and has accepted the assignment to Triple-A. Trevor Richards, acquired at the trade deadline, did the same, meaning both are now Saints.