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 as the Twins beat the Orioles 5-2.
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.
Most of the homers have been timely, too. His leadoff homer on Sunday in Boston got the Twins started on the right foot in an eventual 5-4 victory. His three-run shot in the seventh inning on Tuesday iced a 9-1 win in the series opener.
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.
“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.
“This is that feel-good weather. This is what heats us up to go into the rest of the summer,” he said. “Most of the time when the weather gets a little warmer around here, that’s pretty much when everybody starts putting things together, feeling good.”
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.
“He’s been impressive,” Buxton said. “If he ain’t the leading defensive outfielder in baseball, something’s a problem. … Taking those hits away it keeps us even more into the game and changes the momentum to when we get back in, the bats get going.”
Bullpen on a roll
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.
On Wednesday, Coulombe (one inning), Varland (one-third), Brock Stewart (one), Griffin Jax (one) and Jhoan Duran (one) kept Baltimore off the board for the final 5 1/3 innings after a short start from Simeon Woods Richardson.
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.”
Varland only got one batter out on Wednesday, but he made a play that showed off the skills he developed as a high school wrestler. With two on and two out in the sixth, Jackson Holliday hit a dribbler to the right side. Varland sprung off the mound and made a diving snag of the ball. Then he spun around to his back and flipped the ball to first baseman Ty France just in time to get the speedy Holliday.
“It was hit softly. If I needed a chance to get the out, I had to get going, and I did,” Varland said. “Threw the ball to first. Got the out.”
Varland was a four-year captain of the wrestling team at North St. Paul HS and participated in the state wrestling tournament three times. Watching him scramble and reorient himself on the ground brought to mind his days on the mat, at least for some. Varland himself wasn’t convinced.
“There was no takedown or anything wrestling-related on that play,” he said with a laugh. “There was some body awareness through space, but I’m just glad I made the play because if I didn’t, I’d look like an idiot.”