MINNEAPOLIS – If Byron Buxton stays this hot for much longer, he’s going to have to ice his right elbow and shoulder after games, because the Buck Truck has been making frequent trips around the basepaths.
Buxton homered for the third straight game and Harrison Bader added a pinch-hit, two-run homer on Wednesday.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the Twins have won four straight for just the second time this year. And in winning 10 of their past 15 games, Buxton has been one of the team’s most clutch hitters. In that span, he’s hitting .316 (18-for-57) with five home runs and 15 RBIs.
“When he hits the ball at that good angle, which he does and we've seen a bunch of them, the balls, they keep going,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “They're not scraping walls or anything like that. When his timing is good [and] he's staying through the ball well, which he is right now, that's what you see. We reap the benefits of that. We end up winning games because of that.”
Buxton, in his typical humble fashion, credited the weather, of all things, for his resurgence.
And on Wednesday, the Orioles had just taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the third when Buxton came to the plate with two on and nobody out. He hit the first pitch from O’s starter Charlie Morton (0-7) high and deep to left. The ball landed in the first row of the second deck for Buxton’s ninth of the season, and he pumped his arm in his typical celebration as he rounded the bases after giving the Twins a 3-1 lead.
Buxton, in his typical humble fashion, credited the weather, of all things, for his resurgence.
“When he hits the ball at that good angle, which he does and we've seen a bunch of them, the balls, they keep going,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “They're not scraping walls or anything like that. When his timing is good [and] he's staying through the ball well, which he is right now, that's what you see. We reap the benefits of that. We end up winning games because of that.”
That includes Bader, whose pinch-hit two-run homer in the seventh gave the Twins big insurance runs. He followed that with a sliding catch in the eighth inning to short-circuit an Orioles rally.
For the second straight night, the Twins leaned on their bullpen to get a bunch of outs. First, on Tuesday, Pablo López was pulled after five innings because his pitch count was already nearing 100. No problem – Danny Coulombe, Louis Varland, Cole Sands and Jorge Alcala each pitched a scoreless inning, holding the O’s to two hits and fanning six in four innings.
“I think that’s what we expect to do,” Varland said. “We know we’re good and we’ve got to go out there with that confidence and shut it down.”
In their past 16 games, Twins relievers have a combined 2.91 ERA (17 ER in 52 2/3 IP) and have held opponents to a .222 batting average (42-for-189).
“I think that’s what we expect to do,” Varland said. “We know we’re good and we’ve got to go out there with that confidence and shut it down.”