Byron Buxton makes game-saving catch to carry Twins past White Sox

With the tying run on second base in the ninth inning Tuesday night, Twins closer Jhoan Duran saw Andrew Benintendi’s line drive tailing toward right-center field and a lot of thoughts started running through his mind.

One thought he didn’t consider as the ball shot toward the warning track: Byron Buxton was ready to make one of the best catches of his career.

Buxton, sprinting 78 feet, laid out and made a game-saving diving catch to secure a 4-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox at Target Field in front of an announced crowd of 11,828.

Buxton held up his glove as he slid on his back. Duran jumped with his arms extended. Starting pitcher Bailey Ober, watching in the clubhouse, saw it on a live camera, then ran to a different room to watch it again on a tape-delay TV.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Duran said. “That was crazy.”

Twins right fielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who was near Buxton, added: “It was one of the most incredible catches I’ve ever seen.”

Pitching with a three-run lead in the ninth inning, Duran allowed the White Sox to load the bases with none out through an infield single and two walks. After a strikeout, a run scored on a groundout. That brought up Benintendi, who connected on an elevated 101-mph fastball.

Buxton knew the ball was headed toward the center-field wall based on the sound. He gave himself a moment to peek at the wall’s location, making sure he had plenty of room to dive.

“To catch the ball and end the game like that, kind of change the vibe of what’s going around, it was fun,” Buxton said.

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The Twins, who ended a three-game losing streak, have won 13 consecutive home games against the White Sox, dating to April 2023. It’s the second-longest home winning streak against an opponent in club history, trailing a 17-game winning streak vs. Boston at Met Stadium from 1964-66.

Ober wasn’t at his sharpest, but he was still quite effective. He permitted one run in six innings while stranding six runners. He was inches from giving up a solo homer in the first inning — Luis Robert Jr. blistered a line drive that deflected off the top of the left-field wall — and he kept finding ways to sidestep damage.

Chicago loaded the bases with one out in the second inning after two singles and a walk. Ober yielded a sacrifice fly to Jacob Amaya before ending the inning with a strikeout. The White Sox are 5-for-62 (.081 average) with runners in scoring position since April 15.

After Ober stranded two runners in scoring position in the fourth inning, he escaped runners on the corners in the fifth inning with an inning-ending double play on a 2-0 pitch to Andrew Vaughn. The double play elicited a fist pump and a scream as Ober walked off the mound.

“I had to kind of battle my way through this,” Ober said.

BOXSCORE: Twins 4, White Sox 2

MLB standings

The White Sox, who outhit the Twins 10-5, spotted the Twins their first two runs with poor defense. After Trevor Larnach drew a leadoff four-pitch walk in the second inning, Carlos Correa bounced a ground ball to first base. Vaughn, the White Sox’s first baseman, fired a throw to second to start a double play, and White Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa saw the ball deflect off his glove and roll into shallow left field.

Larnach advanced to third on Sosa’s error, and Ty France followed with an RBI single he hit through the right side of the infield.

In the third inning, Luke Keaschall drew a two-out walk and stole second base. Larnach, the next batter, hit a dribbler that rolled about 10 feet in front of the plate. White Sox catcher Edgar Quero whipped a throw that plunked Larnach in the back. Keaschall, realizing no one was covering the plate as the ball briefly bounced away, scored from second base with a headfirst slide.

The Twins, finally, were on the other side of a routine throw to first base gone awry.

It wasn’t until the eighth inning when the Twins created their own offense as Griffin Jax and Louie Varland followed Ober with scoreless innings. Keaschall, again, drew a walk and swiped second base. After the Twins had totaled only two hits since the third-inning error led to a run, Larnach bashed a two-run homer to center field.

Larnach, who connected on a fastball in a 2-0 count against Sox reliever Mike Vasil, gave some breathing room for Duran in the ninth inning.

Then Buxton took everyone’s breath away.

“[Buxton] told me in the past day or earlier, ‘Hey, I got you,’ ” Duran said. “Now I know what it means.”