Minnesota Twins: Byron Buxton returns strong, Stephen Gonsalves battles him for spotlight
The Minnesota Twins center fielder Byron Buxton had a great return to baseball action, but pitcher Stephen Gonsalves wasn’t about to be outperformed.
The Minnesota Twins had to be glad to see center fielder Byron Buxton back on a baseball field Tuesday night as he started for the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. Buxton was reinstated from the disabled list after another round of wrist issues. Hopefully this time Buxton is back for good. He did his best job of trying to prove just that while facing off against the Columbus Clippers.
Buxton first had his famous glove on display in Buxton like ways in the bottom of the fourth inning. He first had to cover a good chunk of ground showing off his range to record the first out of the inning for the Red Wings. Buxton then turned around to not only catch another fly ball but record the third and final out at the play as a runner tried to tag up.
We have known for a while that Buxton provided value on the baseball field with his glove. What was a good turn of events for at least one night was that Buxton again provided a spark with his bat. Buxton began the game with a single after falling behind Columbus pitcher Ryan Merritt 0-2.
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In Buxton’s third at-bat of the evening, he came to the plate with Juan Graterol and Jordan Pacheco on base. After going up 2-0, Buxton made sure that Graterol and Pacheco were no longer on base by driving a home run over the outfield fence. Then finally in the 8th inning Buxton lined another single to wrap up his 3-for-5 night where he scored two runs and collected four RBIs and had zero strikeouts.
It is only one night, but the one night provided some very positive momentum for Buxton’s return to baseball action and hopefully eventually the Twins.
Stephen Gonsalves has a night
Stephen Gonsalves has been making a case for what feels like forever for his own spot on the Twins roster and put together another excellent outing for the Red Wings. Gonsalves went 6.0 innings gave up three hits, two walks, and struck out five batters on his way to his ninth victory.
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Gonsalves struck out the first two batters he faced which set the tone for the rest of his start. He only really ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning when Buxton bailed him out. His performance Tuesday night’s performance brings Gonsalves’ season stat line between Double-A and Triple-A to 120.2 innings pitched with 22 starts (23 games total) a 2.76 ERA, 1.169 WHIP, and a 9.0 K/9.