CLEVELAND – The 2019 Twins never fell into last place, not even close. So why not play, the Twins apparently decided on Wednesday, more like the slug-them-into-submission team they were just two years ago?
Byron Buxton and Josh Donaldson bashed two of the first nine pitches of the game into the seats, Jorge Polanco added one the same inning, and Willians Astudillo and Mitch Garver (twice) joined in, too.
The Twins became the first visiting team to hit six home runs in one game at 29-year-old Progressive Field and claimed a much-needed 10-2 victory over Cleveland.
The Twins entered the game with the worst record in baseball at 7-15, losers of 13 of their previous 15. So while nobody knows if Wednesday's home run derby was a breakout or merely a respite, it clearly was a lot of fun. The Twins laughed, joked and heckled each other in the dugout, much of it captured on camera for a Youtube national audience.
Buxton, one of the few Twins hitters not in a debilitating slump, was the star right from the start, piling up five hits for the first time in his career and finishing a triple shy of the cycle. He led off the game with his first home run to straightaway right field in four years, a fly ball that just kept drifting until it landed in the front row.
Donaldson followed with a cannon shot into the left-field bleachers, and after Cleveland starter Logan Allen walked Nelson Cruz, Polanco made it a three-homer inning by crushing another fastball into the cheap seats in left-center.
That's all the cushion J.A. Happ needed, as it turned out. The veteran lefty, who no-hit the Pirates for 7⅓ innings Friday, wasn't quite so perfect this time, but he was nearly as impressive. Happ gave up a solo home run to Amed Rosario in the second inning and a double to the same hitter in the fifth, resulting in another run. But with Happ otherwise shutting down Cleveland over seven innings, and Randy Dobnak adding two shutout innings in relief, the Twins could sit back and enjoy the power show.
Former Mounds View standout Sam Hentges, a rookie lefthander for Cleveland, gave up both of Garver's homers during three innings of relief. Starter Logan Allen lasted only 1⅓ innings and was charged with the first six runs.
Buxton's batting average soared to .438 and his OPS, which leads the majors, went to 1.408. His homer leading off the game was his league-leading eighth.
The Twins are off Thursday before starting a three-game series against AL Central-leading Kansas City on Friday at Target Field.
