MINNEAPOLIS _ Byron Buxton was at top speed halfway to first base. He was already headed to second base when his long fly ball glanced off the wall in right-center, and he was two steps from third base when center fielder A.J. Pollock retrieved the ricochet and desperately heaved it toward the infield. And Buxton just kept going.
The ball arrived at home plate a split-second earlier than the Twins' fastest player, but the relay throw was a step or two toward third base, and catcher Chris Iannetta had to make a sweeping tag that Buxton slid under, headfirst. It was Buxton's eighth home run of the season, but by far the most electric: MLB announced his trip around the bases took a mere 13.85 seconds, the fastest that its StatCast system, installed in 2015, had ever recorded.
Even better for the Twins, Buxton's second career inside-the-park home run tied the game, Minnesota went ahead after his next at-bat, and the Twins beat Arizona 10-3.
Buxton tripled in his first at-bat, roaring around the bases on a ball hit toward the bullpens, and he doubled in the sixth inning, then scored on a Jorge Polanco single. Along with long home runs by a pair of young teammates, the Twins threatened to win for the second straight night and maintain their one-game deficit in the wild-card race.
Max Kepler smashed a home run deep into the right-field seats in the third inning, and Miguel Sano crushed one of the longest homers of his career _ 452 feet, by the Twins' estimate _ with a runner on base in the seventh to overcome an early 3-0 deficit and potentially hand Ervin Santana his 13th victory of the season.
Santana was shaky in the first inning, needing nearly 26 pitches to retire the side, but only after giving up three singles, a walk and two runs. And when David Peralta bounced a Santana slider off the top of the left-field wall and over it, the Twins seemed in danger of another lopsided home loss.
But the offense kicked in against Diamondbacks right-hander Zack Godley, and Santana suddenly transformed into the All-Star pitcher he frequently is for the Twins. Santana retired 10 straight hitters, then got into a two-on, no-out jam in the sixth and worked out of it by getting a couple of popups and a fly ball to end the inning.
After Eduardo Escobar hit a two-run home run into the grandstand in right-center in the seventh inning, Buxton came to the plate needing only a single to complete his first career cycle, and the first by a Twin since Michael Cuddyer eight years ago. Cuddyer, by coincidence, was in Target Field to watch on the eve of his Twins Hall of Fame induction on Saturday.
And when Arizona reliever David Hernandez put a 95-mph fastball in the strike zone on a 1-1 pitch, Buxton whacked a line drive up the middle _ but right at Daniel Descalso at second base, foiling his cycle try.
