Buxton returns from IL, then homers in series opener in Bronx

NEW YORK – Twins outfielder Byron Buxton was activated from the 10-day injured list on Monday afternoon and promptly homered in his return to the leadoff spot that night in a 6-2 loss to the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

After striking out in his first two at-bats, Buxton hit his 24th homer over the left-center-field wall on an 0-1 pitch from right-hander Will Warren in the sixth inning, cutting the Twins’ deficit to 3-1.

“[Buxton] comes in, hits a sweeper over the left-field wall. It’s good,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “He took some good-looking swings. Connected on one of them. We’ll take it. It was good to have him back in the lineup. He always does something good for the team.”

Buxton, who missed 13 games with left rib-cage inflammation, is having one the best seasons of his career. He has a slash line of .282/.342/.567 with 24 home runs, 60 RBIs and an All-Star appearance in July.

To make room for Buxton on the 26-man roster, the Twins optioned outfielder Carson McCusker to Triple-A St. Paul following Sunday afternoon’s game against the Royals. McCusker went 1-for-3 on Saturday after being recalled earlier in the day for his second stint with the team.

“It feels good to be able to come back. I hope to provide some more energy that these guys are playing with and playing good baseball,” Buxton said before the game.

Buxton's leadership became even more important after the Twins traded 10 players before the July 31 Trade Deadline.

On Aug. 2, after the Twins lost to the Guardians, 5-4, Buxton and catcher Christian Vázquez had a team get-together at a steakhouse. Buxton and Vázquez wanted the players to be more relaxed and not let the Trade Deadline bring a losing attitude to the team the rest of the season. The bottom line was, control what you can control, and that’s playing baseball.

Since then, the Twins are 5-3.

“It’s the business side of it. To see us come out and do the things we’ve been doing is a lot of fun,” Buxton said. “I think that’s more of who we are as a baseball team – get out there and take those extra bases and be aggressive.

“You have to turn the page at some point. That’s what it feels like. … Energetically, I’m itching to get back. I’ve been on the bench seeing them take the extra base, stealing bases, [and] it’s fun. We are a young group – now even younger. We just go out and play baseball, which is a fun thing to do.”

Right-hander Zebby Matthews is one of those young players. As recently as 2024, the 25-year-old Matthews was considered the No. 20 prospect in the Twins’ organization, according to MLB Pipeline. Matthews started against the Yankees and lasted 5 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and one walk.

In the first and third innings, Matthews was able to get two quick outs but had a tough time getting that last one.

In the opening frame, Cody Bellinger homered on a 2-2 pitch to give New York a 1-0 lead. Two innings later, things were going smoothly for Matthews until he allowed two-out back-to-back homers to Giancarlo Stanton and Ben Rice.

“That has been an issue throughout the year so far,” Matthews said. “Obviously, I need to finish the inning. I had the mistake pitches down to solo home runs. I was able to keep [the team] in the game. Clearly, I need to finish the innings a little better.”

Outside of the home runs, Matthews had 18 swings and misses, and he tied a career high with nine strikeouts.

“I thought Zebby had an excellent start,” Baldelli said. “He got good results from his slider today, threw some good changeups. He mixed his fastball and his sinker really well.

“If we were able to put some runs on the board, you would be thinking about his outing differently. He gave up some solo homers. Those normally would not be enough to beat you. [The Yankees] didn’t get much going off him.”