MINNEAPOLIS — Byron Buxton turned in one of the best games of his career and in Twins history in Saturday afternoon’s 12-4 win over the Pirates, capping the first cycle of his big league career with a home run to straightaway center.
He’s 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.
Buxton 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. He capped it off with a majestic homer to the batters 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.
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.
