For as simple as the game of baseball is, it’s often a deeply weird sport. Even with the pitch clock speeding games up there’s still a lot of dead air to fill over the course of nine innings which is where strange traditions have been born.
One of those is the Milwaukee Brewers’ tradition of having a Sauasge Race at its home games. It’s exactly what it sounds like — a bunch of sausage mascots race around the field to see who will win some section free beef. It’s so painfully Wisconsin, but it’s one of those bizarre baseball things that has become endearing over the years.
Well, endearing to folks who aren’t Randall Simon.
Tuesday featured the first Sausage Race of the season but it almost ended in total disaster for the visiting Minnesota Twins.
Byron Buxton almost got run over during Brewer’s Sausage Race
In between the top and bottom half of the sixth inning, Byron Buxton was nearly run over by a giant bratwurst, which would have been the most believably ad-lib way for him to hit the IL and once again injure himself.
Luckily he got out of the way just in time, but it was a much closer call than anyone would have liked.
The Twins nearly lost Byron Buxton to a bratwurst in Milwaukee and we absolutely would have closed the border to Wisconsin if it happened pic.twitter.com/txNlZwDOXl
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) April 2, 2024
Things didn’t get much better for the Twins after that. Minnesota failed to pull itself out of an early three-run hole it dug against the Brewers, ultimately falling a run short of a comeback. The offense looked concerningly flat for most of the game, one that was largely pitched by Milwaukee’s bullpen, but it’s not necessarily time to panic yet.
Had Buxton been bulldozed by an eight foot felt sausage, we’d be having a different conversation.
Fortunately we won’t have to deal with that bizarre reality, but there’s still plenty of other things to be mildly worried about. Both Bailey Ober and Louie Varland threw outings where they collectively lasted less than six innings and allowed a combined 11 earned runs.
Worse is how quiet the Twins’ offense has been the last two games. After scoring nine runs out of the gate, Minnesota has mustered up just two runs over the last two games which is eerily reminiscent of the slump everyone fell into last season.
It’s only April 2nd, so there’s no need to panic just yet. Minnesota has been eaten alive by the injury bug, which isn’t helping anything, and there’s plenty of time to work things out. Thankfully, nobody will have to try and explain why Byron Buxton was added to the injury heap.