Twins stay clear of Orioles after Byron Buxton's three-run homer

Phil Miller, The Minnesota Star Tribune on May 7, 2025

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins matched their season-high winning streak Wednesday, and Byron Buxton matched his career-high home-run streak.

These occurrences are not unrelated.

Buxton cracked a Charlie Morton curveball into the upper deck down the left field line with two runners on base in the third inning, the third consecutive game he has reached the seats, all the offense the Twins would need for a 5-2 victory over the Baltimore Orioles at Target Field.

It’s the second time in 11 days that the Twins have won four straight games, and Buxton is the thread running through those hot streaks. The Twins’ center fielder has played in seven of the eight wins, had at least one hit in all seven, and has homered in four of them.

Wednesday’s blast gave Buxton a home run in three consecutive games, the fourth time he’s managed such a streak in his career, matching a pair of streaks in 2022 and one in 2020. The Twins’ record for games with a home run is five in a row, done three times by Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew and once each by Marty Cordova, Brian Dozier and Nelson Cruz.

Harrison Bader also homered for the Twins, driving a slider from Keegan Akin 408 feet into the upper-deck section adjacent to Buxton’s. That seventh-inning blast had significance for Bader, too: It was the first pinch-hit home run of his career.

And just like Tuesday’s game, the Twins received plenty of strong pitching, especially when the Orioles threatened, to back up their reviving offense.

Simeon Woods Richardson allowed two runs over 4 2/3 innings, including a solo homer by Ramón Laureano ion the third inning. After retiring the first two hitters of the fifth inning, Woods Richardson had given up only two hits and had recorded 14 outs on just 50 pitches. But his next 11 pitches ended his outing: Laureano doubled, Heston Kjerstad singled him home, and Emmanuel Rivera singled as well, putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

Danny Coulombe relieved Woods Richardson and struck out Cedric Mullins on a 2-2 cutter, ending the threat.

Similarly, Louie Varland ended a two-on, two-out threat in the sixth by making a sliding grab of Jackson Holliday’s dribbler up the first base line, then quickly flipping it to Ty France to end the inning.

And in the eighth, Griffin Jax put two runners on base but then fielded a grounder by Ryan Mountcastle and turned it into an inning-ending double play, leaving the Orioles 1 for 4 on the night with runners in scoring position.

The victory improved the Twins’ record to 16-20 while dropping Baltimore, loser of four straight games, to 13-22.

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