Twins have ASG request after Buxton's 2-HR game: 'Make sure y’all vote for Buck'

CINCINNATI -- Starter Chris Paddack said it all with the first words out of his mouth after the Twins’ 12-5 win against the Reds on Thursday.

“Make sure y’all vote for Buck for the All-Star Game,” said Paddack.

He almost certainly spoke for an entire clubhouse.

Looking to emerge from a six-game losing streak, the Twins were seeking a pick-me-up coming out of the gate on Thursday, and Byron Buxton -- “Buck” for short -- provided one. An inning later, they needed another. Buxton delivered again.

The star slugger homered in each of the first two innings as the Twins won for the first time in a week at Great American Ball Park. His first-inning long ball was the 12th leadoff homer of his career, tied for the fifth most in Twins history.

“It's incredible to watch him perform the way he is, to watch him carry this team the way he's doing it,” said Carlos Correa, who went 3-for-5. “It's very impressive. He's not a one-dimensional player. He can do it all on the basepaths, at the defensive end of it. He does it at the highest level, everything he does. It's truly impressive to watch. I never get tired of it.”

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An All-Star once in his career, Buxton lagged in the first round of All-Star balloting results announced earlier this week. It’s hard to imagine he won’t surge if he keeps playing this way, though. And with the game in Atlanta, not too far from his home in Baxley, Ga., it would be a meaningful honor.

“It just means a lot,” he said. “Being back home in Georgia, family could come, friends could come to it. It's just a little bit closer to home.”

Buxton has been torrid of late, but even for him, Thursday stood out. He added a double to his two homers for 10 total bases on the day, the second-highest single-game total of his career. Buxton has homered in three straight games, and over his last eight games, he is 12-for-28 (.429) with five home runs.

It was the second straight day that Buxton led off the game with a homer, but for the second straight day, Minnesota gave the lead back in the bottom of the first. This time, however, the deficit was short-lived. Kody Clemens hit a two-run homer in the top of the second to put the Twins back ahead, and Buxton followed with a solo shot to make it 4-2. They never trailed again.

Buxton’s combination of power, speed, and defense is all but unrivaled in the Majors, and when he’s healthy and hot, he can carry a team. Yet over the course of his torrid June, he’s added another dimension that he hasn’t always shown: control of the strike zone. In addition to a .327/.433/.714 line for the month, he has nine walks and nine strikeouts in 14 games.

In short, he’s playing the game all-around as well as just about anyone on the planet right now.

“I try to hit the ball through the fence,” he said. “Not over it -- through it. That’s how I get the backspin on it. It ain’t one of those where you go up there and I’m overthinking what I’m doing. I’m just being myself. Taking it back to the Minor Leagues, I raked pretty good in the leadoff spot, and it was me not thinking. Day in and day out, I just go up there, have fun with it, no thinking. See ball and hit ball.”

It wasn’t just Buxton, though. Up and down the lineup, Twins hitters got right on a warm, humid, breezy day by the Ohio River. Correa scored twice and drove in a run. Ryan Jeffers returned from a hand injury and hit a mammoth home run. Willi Castro drew a career-high three walks.

But Buxton was the catalyst, as he so often is.

“He's been in that really good, relaxed place,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “You might call it 'the zone.' He's playing great. Seeing the ball good. Had another good day at the plate, swinging at good pitches. Really attacking and barreling them up. Another incredible effort.”