MINNEAPOLIS -- Sometimes -- not often, but sometimes -- you get a near-perfect day at the yard.
Once in a long while, it’s 72 degrees and sunny for an afternoon start on a holiday weekend. And if everything breaks just right, your two All-Stars turn in vintage games.
Sometimes you get all of that in one afternoon. Sunday was one of those rare days for the Twins, who beat the Padres, 7-2, on a spectacular late-summer afternoon at Target Field to claim a series win against a World Series contender.
Joe Ryan threw seven shutout innings, striking out eight against one walk while facing one of baseball’s best teams, and Byron Buxton set a new career high with his 29th home run of the season.
And at the close of a turbulent August, it was an awful lot of fun to be at the ballpark.
“It was a good crowd today, so it was super fun,” said Ryan. “Good to get a win, good to get a series win.”
It’s been an up-and-down year for the Twins, with more down than up over the past three months or so. But throughout, Ryan and Buxton have been stalwarts, with both stars enjoying seasons that rank among the best of their careers. Or, more accurately in Ryan’s case, the best.
But the right-hander had endured a couple of rocky starts in a row. And as he closes in on a career high in innings with a month to go, it was a matter of intrigue as to how he would bounce back against a tough Padres lineup. He did so emphatically.
Ryan was rarely bothered, but when San Diego did manage some traffic on the bases, he escaped with aplomb. He stranded Gavin Sheets after Sheets hit a one-out double in the second. After an error and a single put two on with no outs in the fourth, he notched back-to-back strikeouts before a fly ball to left ended the inning.
“Joe was fantastic,” said manager Rocco Baldelli. “They’ve got a good lineup. They’ve got good hitters up and down the lineup. They’ve got good right-handed hitters, left-handed hitters. Joe went right at them. He had his good, explosive stuff out there today.”
In his fourth full Major League season, Ryan has thrown 155 innings, 6 2/3 shy of a career high. He has a career-best ERA of 3.08. And with 174 strikeouts and likely around five starts remaining, he has a shot at the first 200-strikeout season of his career.
As for Buxton, he just kept doing what he’s done all year. Getting a rare start at designated hitter rather than in center field, he looked locked in from the start. Buxton lined out to shortstop in the first inning before coming up with a runner on second two innings later.
He worked a 2-2 count against Kyle Hart, and when Hart left a changeup up and over the plate, Buxton pounced. He drilled the ball a Statcast-projected 366 feet to left field for the Twins’ first runs of the game and his 29th career home run.
That’s one more than Buxton's previous best mark in 2022, and it was also No. 84 at Target Field – equaling the most anyone has hit in the ballpark’s 16 seasons. Buxton achieved a 20/20 season (homers and steals) for the first time in his career Friday, when he also stole third base for the first time in his career.
At 31 years old, in his 11th season, Buxton is still accomplishing new feats. Even if he’s not ready to revel in them just yet.
“I’ve also got [26] more games to do more damage,” Buxton said. “So right now is probably not the best time to ask me about 29 homers. I could care less about my career high. In [26] more games, it’s different. I’ll be able to look back and reflect a little bit on what the season is and we can kind of go from there. But right now, I’ve still got more work to do.”