Byron Buxton homers twice as Twins end six-game losing streak by beating Reds 12-5

CINCINNATI – Chris Paddack opened his postgame news conference Thursday, following a 12-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, with a simple message to the fan base:

“Make sure y’all vote for Buck for the All-Star Game,” he said.

Byron Buxton is probably headed for his second career All-Star Game if he keeps this up. In one of the best games for the Twins offense all year, a day where every Twins starter recorded a hit and five players produced multiple hits, Buxton was at the center of it.

Buxton homered twice, the 14th multi-homer game in his career. He’s homered in three straight games. It was the second consecutive day he opened the game with a leadoff homer, leaving players who regularly watch the best baseball players in the world in awe.

“Sick, bro,” Trevor Larnach said. “He starts the game out with a bang. Every at-bat, you think something electric is going to happen. I think he’s the best center fielder in the game simply.”

The Twins ended their six-game losing streak, salvaging one win on their road trip through Houston and Cincinnati, and they returned to .500 with a 37-37 record. The offense, which accumulated 17 hits and eight walks, set single-game season highs in doubles (six), extra-base hits (10) and times on base (26).

It was back-to-back homers on consecutive pitches that put the Twins ahead. Down by a run in the second inning, Ryan Jeffers drew a walk with two outs. Kody Clemens followed with a two-run homer off Reds righthander Nick Martinez, pulling a cutter down the right-field line.

Buxton, on Martinez’s next pitch, walloped a changeup for a drive into deep left field to make it a 4-2 ballgame. After Paddack allowed two runs in the bottom of the first inning, Buxton approached him to say, “Keep us right there and we’re going to be just fine,” knowing hitters were seeing the ball well.

“I’m at the point now where I don’t care about what I do,” Buxton said. “As long as we win, I could’ve went oh-fer. That’s where I’m at. I want a ring. Accolades can be on the back side.”

Buxton hammered a 432-foot homer on Martinez’s fourth pitch, lifting an elevated 92-mph fastball into the second deck in left field. It was Buxton’s second consecutive game with a leadoff homer and the 12th time he’s done it in his career, tying Dan Gladden for the fifth-most leadoff homers in Twins history.

There are only five Twins players with more multi-homer games in the team’s history: Harmon Killebrew (35), Justin Morneau (20), Tony Oliva (18), Kent Hrbek (16) and Bob Allison (15).

“He said this is the best he’s felt in a little bit,” said former Twins reliever Emilio Pagán, who called Buxton over to the Reds’ bullpen during a delay in Tuesday’s game. “It’s good for the game of baseball when he’s playing. You can see the highlights, what he’s capable of doing. He’s fun to watch, man. He’s one of the best.”

Despite a two-week stint on the concussion injured list, Buxton ranks sixth in the American League in homers (15), eighth in RBI (45) and 10th in runs (43).

Being selected for the upcoming All-Star Game in Atlanta, he says, would be meaningful, particularly after his third son, Baire, was born in 2023.

“Adding another kid adds a little bit more of wanting him to experience that, too,” said Buxton, a Baxley, Ga., native who made the All-Star team in 2022. “It just means a lot. Being back home in Georgia, family could come, friends could come to it. It’s just a little bit closer to home. Make sure [Willi] Castro gets his votes now. Letting y’all know.”

The Twins added three runs in the third inning. Ty France, who is batting .366 with runners in scoring position, thumped an RBI double off the left-field wall. Jeffers followed with a two-run double down the left-field line off Martinez, who gave up seven hits and seven runs across 2⅔ innings in his shortest start of the season.

In the fourth inning, the Twins had four straight batters reach base with two outs, which included back-to-back RBI hits from Larnach and Carlos Correa.

After the Twins left the bases loaded in the fifth inning and two runners in the seventh, Jeffers put the game out of reach with a 448-foot, two-run homer to center off ex-Twins reliever Taylor Rogers.

“He’s played a lot of games where he’s taken over the game,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said of Buxton. “I think it fires him up and teammates are fired up watching it.”