Twins’ Byron Buxton aims to bounce back vs. M’s

Caught in a 1-31 fall, Byron Buxton spent Wednesday afternoon practicing his swing minnesota twins Coaches at visiting batting cages in the interior of T-Mobile Park in Seattle

For the second night in a row, Buxton was not in the lineup after going 0-5 with three strikeouts on Monday in the series opener.

Buxton is projected to be back at designated hitter on Thursday afternoon when Minnesota wraps up its four-game series against mariners

“I’m probably overthinking it a bit, so yeah, (the two days off) makes a bit of sense,” Buxton said. “I’m just trying to be who I am.”

Although Buxton is second Twins With 15 home runs and 36 RBI, he is hitting .196 in 77 games.

Twins Has gone 16 on 23 hits in last two games during Buxton’s absence

Buxton said it was good for him to watch those games.

“It gives you this idea: ‘Just get some rest,'” he said.

An excellent defensive center fielder, Buxton has been limited to DH duties due to hip and knee injuries suffered at the end of last season.

Buxton has brought up the idea of ​​returning to the field, but Twins Manager Rocco Baldelli is not considering that option

“It’s not a question of what he wants to do. The question is what is he physically capable of doing?” Baldelli said.

Without playing in the field, Buxton admitted that he was having trouble finding routine among the batsmen.

“It’s not like old school where you’ve got people who go in there and play PlayStation,” he said, “(or) there are people who go in there and put their headphones on and listen to music or whatever the situation is. So, it’s a little different.”

Instead, he’s spending a lot of time in the cage.

“Possibly much longer,” he said.

Without Buxton, Edouard Julien, Max Kepler and Alex Kirilloff went deep in Minnesota’s 6-3 victory on Wednesday. first place Twins Have won five of six games since the All-Star break to maintain their lead in the American League Central

Minnesota closer John Duran threw a pitch of 104.8 mph in the ninth inning on Wednesday, a personal best and the fastest pitch in the majors this year. He occupies the top five spots in the 2023 list.

“It keeps going into space, outer space,” Baldelli said. “I don’t know where it’s going to stop. You see it all over the league, it’s moved from one level to the next when it comes to velocity, but at the moment it’s living on its planet.”

Tom Murphy and Eugenio Suárez hit home runs for Seattle, which is 2–4 on its 10-game homestand.

mariners trailing 3–0, proceeded to tie the game before a passed ball could go on to score in the eighth inning

“It’s disappointing,” said Seattle manager Scott Servais. “You fight like that and tie the game and the momentum suits you, but unfortunately, we couldn’t keep it going.”

The series finale will feature right-handers, Pablo López (5-5, 4.24 ERA) of Minnesota, and George Kirby (8-8, 3.43) of Seattle.

Lopez, who had a four-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts on July 5 against the Kansas City Royals, had his worst start of the season on Saturday in Oakland. He gave up seven runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings but got a no decision. Twins won 10-7

Kirby won his last two starts before the All-Star break but suffered a 6–0 loss to the visiting Detroit Tigers on Saturday. He allowed six runs on eight hits in five innings.

Neither Lopez nor Kirby have faced their Thursday opponent before.

–Field Level Media