Buxton strikes twice (in historic fashion), Ryan rolls in Twins' win

CLEVELAND -- The Minnesota Twins’ 2-1 extra-innings win over the Guardians on Saturday at Progressive Field featured two big hits from Byron Buxton.

In fact, they were the only hits the Twins recorded all evening. That’s right; the Twins played 11 innings of baseball on Saturday afternoon and evening, and somehow won despite Buxton’s leadoff home run and 11th-inning double accounting for their only offense.

It was just the 23rd time since at least 1900 that a team has won an extra-inning game with two hits or fewer. The only other time it’s happened in Twins/Senators//Nationals franchise history was on May 14, 1914.

Now how did that happen, you ask? Well, they got those two big swings from Buxton, a return to form from Joe Ryan and two fantastic defensive plays from Brooks Lee.

It wasn’t the prettiest win in the world, but it was a win nonetheless.

Or, as Buxton put it after the game in the Twins’ celebratory clubhouse:

“Funnest game I've ever played in.”

Really? A game where the teams combined for four hits, 24 strikeouts and needed two extra innings to be decided?

“One thousand percent,” he said.

One of the biggest reasons it ended up being a game that Buxton found fun was a dominant start from Ryan, who took the mound for the first time since his start last weekend, which ended with him walking off the mound at Target Field with athletic trainer Masa Abe after just nine pitches.

The end to his start on Saturday looked a lot more normal.

After getting Travis Bazzana to ground out to second baseman Luke Keaschall to end the sixth inning, Ryan jogged into the Twins’ first-base dugout, where he was greeted by a bevy of handshakes and high-fives from his teammates.

Nothing flashy or extremely noteworthy. Just a routine, normal exit from a game.

And right now, the Twins will gladly take normal.

“I felt really good and normal,” Ryan said. “It was kind of this interesting mental experience because I’ve been feeling not myself all season in the physical sense. I just felt kind of out of body, almost. Just flowing. It felt really good.”

Ryan’s strong start came on a day when the Twins' already thin pitching depth suffered a huge blow in the form of Taj Bradley being placed on the injured list with right pec inflammation.

After cruising through the beginning of his start with three no-hit innings, Ryan ran into trouble in the fourth inning when he allowed a one-out single to José Ramírez, who promptly stole second base and came around to score on a Kyle Manzardo single.

The Guardians then loaded the bases with one out, but Ryan was able to get out of the inning by striking out Angel Martínez and Austin Hedges.

“I’m always confident in those situations,” Ryan said. “There’s almost this closer-like mentality that you step into in those close situations. You’re going to beat them in the zone and make them attack. It’s a tough situation for them too.”

That was the closest the Guardians would get to scoring off him the rest of the way.

“Joe was back to being Joe,” Buxton said.

Buxton started the game with a ringing home run to left field off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee that staked the Twins to an early lead.

Not only did Buxton’s home run give him 16 career long balls against the Guardians (the second-most he has against a single team, behind the White Sox), but it came less than 24 hours after he finished a triple shy of the cycle in Friday’s series opener.

Although he recorded two strikeouts and a popup in his next three at-bats, he reacquainted himself with left-center in the 11th inning with a go-ahead double off Peyton Pallette that likely would have been a homer had the win not been blowing in.

“I was glad he got one early and one late,” manager Derek Shelton quipped.

Part of the reason Buxton got a chance to hit in the 11th was because of a great diving stop from Lee at shortstop in the bottom of the 10th that robbed Daniel Schneemann of a walk-off hit. The ball left Schneemann’s bat at 100.9 mph and had an expected batting average of .670.

He also ended the game in the 11th inning with a fantastic diving stop that was followed by a good throw -- and a pick by Kody Clemens -- to just get Brayan Rocchio before he got to first base.

“Two great plays,” Shelton said. “He just continues to get better.”