Buxton warms up for Derby with cycle -- on his bobblehead day!

MINNEAPOLIS -- In a magnificent year for Byron Buxton, Saturday marked a new high.

On a warm, sunny afternoon at Target Field, on his bobblehead day, with his second All-Star appearance just three days away, Buxton turned in one of the best games in his decorated career and one that will go down in Twins history. He capped the first cycle of his big league career with a home run to straightaway center as Minnesota breezed to a 12-4 win against Pittsburgh.

The masterful performance came in front of an adoring crowd, many of whom were already waiting in line more than three hours before first pitch to secure a “Buck Truck” bobblehead -- commemorating his trademark celebration.

“It’s special,” Buxton said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous before the game started, just knowing it was bobblehead day. Obviously, you want to come out and do something good. So to be able to come out on bobblehead day and have a day like this is something I won’t forget.”

Buxton became the 12th player in Twins history (since 1961) to hit for the cycle and the first player to do it at Target Field, which opened in 2010. The last Twin to hit for the cycle was Jorge Polanco on April 5, 2019, at the Phillies. The last Minnesota player to accomplish the feat at home was Michael Cuddyer on May 22, 2009, at the Metrodome.

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“That was one of the great individual performances I’ve ever seen,” manager Rocco Baldelli said.

Baldelli admitted that he briefly considered pulling Buxton before the home run due to the Twins’ hefty lead and Buxton being just three days removed from being hit in the hand by a pitch. Fortunately, bench coach Jayce Tingler and hitting coach Matt Borgschulte reminded Baldelli of what was at stake.

The performance was classic Buxton -- a mix of skill, power and speed.

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He led off the game with an infield single, added a triple in the second and scored on Willi Castro’s infield single, doubled in a run in the third and singled in the fifth.

Then, needing the home run for the cycle, he got just that. Buxton capped it off with a majestic homer to the batter’s eye in center on an 0-2 curveball from Andrew Heaney in the seventh. It was his first five-hit game of the year, and the second of his career.

Buxton said he wasn’t swinging for a home run, but he was aware of the cycle attempt.

“I want to get hits,” he said. “Just going out there, trying to keep my same approach. Most of the time when you get too big, you tend to pop that ball up. And that’s the thing, we go back and we say, ‘Dang, we missed that pitch.’ I didn’t want to go back saying that.”

He definitely did not. After hitting the homer, his 21st of the year, Buxton was removed for DaShawn Keirsey Jr., but not before he got to soak in the adulation of the Target Field crowd, as well as that of his teammates.

“The support they have amongst us in that dugout is pretty incredible,” Buxton said. “I think that was a big reason to note. They kept me going. ‘Buck, you’re going to do it today.’ They told me that. It was just one of those where you have to believe in yourself that you’re going to do it. I think all of those guys in there believe in me more than I believe in myself sometimes.”

For Buxton -- who will swing in the T-Mobile Home Run Derby on Monday night at Truist Park in his home state of Georgia, then make his second All-Star Game appearance on Tuesday -- it’s been a brilliant first half, and he’s bringing it to a close by playing some of his best ball of the year. In his past five starts -- one of which was abbreviated when he was lifted in the second inning after a first-inning hit-by-pitch -- Buxton has three multhit games.

“It’s one of the great first halves that I’ve witnessed,” Baldelli said. “When this guy turns it on, he really turns it on. He’s doing it on a nightly basis, and it just keeps getting better and better.”