Minnesota Twins, ignited by All-Star Byron Buxton, overwhelm Chicago Cubs

The Twins scored two runs in the first inning Tuesday and six more in the eighth, when they hit three home runs, to beat the National League Central’s best, the Chicago Cubs, 8-1 at Target Field.

Byron Buxton continued his All-Star summer by starting the party with a game-opening double and then scoring before a big Tuesday night crowd announced at 30,384, populated greatly by Cub fans.

Buxton was coming fresh off a weekend when he was named to the American League All-Star team in his home state of Georgia and accepted the chance to compete in Monday’s All-Star Home Run Derby beforehand.

All he did was open Tuesday’s scoring by hitting a leadoff double. Then he scored from second when designated hitter Ryan Jeffers stepped up and hit a double himself that scored Buxton from second.

Jeffers made it 2-0 when Royce Lewis scored him from third on a sacrifice fly to center.

“That’s what you need,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’s one thing to grab a lead. It’s another to put multiple runs on the board.”

Jeffers did his part batting second, right behind All-Star Buxton.

“It’s fun, you get the best seat in the house for his ABs,” said Jeffers, who went 3-for-4 with his seventh homer of the season. “I’ve worked all over the lineup and it’s cool to earn that spot near the top.”

The runs scored by Buxton and Jeffers were all the Twins needed against the first-place Cubs.

Yet they scored more. Lots more.

Designated hitter Jeffers, Willi Castro and Harrison Bader all hit homers — Jeffers and Castro back-to-back, at that — in a six-run eighth inning to stretch the lead to 8-0.

Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson pitched five scoreless injuries and recorded his third consecutive victory; he’s 5-4 with a 4.08 ERA.

Woods Richardson attributed his improved outings to getting sent back to Class AAA St. Paul in mid-May for a month.

“That was a reset button, honestly,” Woods Richardson said. “You have to figure out where you went wrong, go back to the drawing board a little bit.”

Bader’s two-run homer brought home Royce Lewis for the eighth inning’s sixth and final run.

By then, Cubs jersey-wearing fans had little to cheer and stayed mostly muted until pinch hitter Justin Turner got one back with a ninth-inning home run that made it 8-1.

“It’s almost fuel to the fire, honestly for me,” Woods Richardson said. “You have opposing people cheering against your home team, in your home stadium. It lights a fire underneath you a little bit. That’s just your competitor’s side.”

The Twins set off left field fireworks by ending the game with a shortstop-to-second-to-first double play.

The Twins used a succession of pitchers. After Woods Richardson, Danny Coulombe came on to get two outs and Brock Stewart one out before Cole Sands and Griffin Jax entered for an inning each. Then Joey Wentz was called in.

Jax worked himself in and out of a jam in the eighth, when he walked the first two batters, then struck out the next two before former Simley High School and current Cubs star Michael Busch lined out to right field to end the inning.

Good night.

“Jax is capable of almost anything,” Baldelli said. “He can go at any hitter in the game and get a bunch of swings and misses. He was probably a little frustrated with either the situation or himself, but he really made a lot of good pitches to get out of the inning the way he did. He’s got as good of stuff as there is. He is capable of anything in this game.”

BOXSCORE: Twins 8, Cubs 1

MLB standings

The Cubs on Tuesday began a six-game road trip before next week’s All-Star weekend and All-Star break. The Twins continued their nine-game home stand by winning for the third time in four games at Target Field.

The Cubs hit the road after beating St. Louis 11-0 on “Sunday Night Baseball.” It put them in first place in the National League Central, 2 ½ games ahead of second-place Milwaukee.

The Twins have five games at Target Field, with three against the Pittsburgh Pirates before reaching the break.