Byron Buxton reached a new milestone, Joe Ryan got back on track and the Twins finally ended their five-team series losing streak with a 7-2 win over the San Diego Padres on Sunday.
Buck hit his 29th home run to reach a new single-season high, but the real star of the show was starter Ryan who returned to form after losing his two previous starts.
Deadhead Ryan pitched seven innings of shoutout baseball, allowing just five hits with a walk and eight strikeouts to improve to 13-7 with a 3.08 ERA.
“Joe was fantastic,” said manager Rocco Baldelli to MLB.com. “They’ve got a good lineup. They’ve got good hitters up and down the lineup. They’ve got good right-handed hitters, left-handed hitters. Joe went right at them. He had his good, explosive stuff out there today.”
Ryan was backed with seven runs on eight hits, getting not just a dinger out of Buck but also a double. Rookie Kid Keaschall, too, continues to deliver in the cleanup spot, contributing a hit, two runs scored, a run batted in and a walk.
The Twins should be able to make it two series wins in a row because the Chicago White Sox come to Target Field on Monday. After the Twins dropped a series to them on the South Side last month, it’s time for payback. Bailey Ober gets the ball.
Extra innings…
–The Twins are 62-74.
–Buck’s season so far: 108 hits, 70 RBI, 29 home runs, 21 stolen bases and a slash line of .271/.333/.550.
–About 27,000 fans attended Sunday’s game, which is not bad, but the Twins are still 10th out of 15 teams in American League attendance at 1.5 million fans, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Now, hold onto your hats: The Colorado Rockies, the worst team in baseball, have crossed the 2 million fans mark and filled Coors Field to the tune of 40,000 fans on Sunday. Go figure.
–Every dog has its day: Despite being nearly 60 games under .500, the Rocks walked-off the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, 6-5.
–Every dog has its day, Part 2: The White Sox edged the Yankees 3-2 on Sunday at Rate Field. I bet the Yanks aren’t happy about that.
–The Twins finished August at 11-17.