Buxton's incredible speed sparks Twins' rally
Plus three other Statcast feats from Tuesday's action
Byron Buxton showed, once again, what his speed can do.
With Minnesota and St. Louis tied 1-1 in the seventh inning Tuesday, Buxton dropped down a bunt with Logan Morrison on second base and no outs. The MLB leader in average sprint speed, Buxton posted a blazing 31.7 feet per second on the play, well above the elite 30 feet-per-second mark. He completed the trip from home to first in 3.73 seconds, his season best, and his speed helped force Cardinals reliever Luke Gregerson into throwing wide. That error, tacked onto the bunt single, brought in Morrison with the go-ahead run and sent Buxton to second. The Twins went on to win, 4-1.
Here is a look at some other notable Statcast™ feats from Tuesday's action:
Billy Hamilton, Reds
Cincinnati's speedster wiped out a potential extra-base hit for Evan Longoria in the eighth inning Tuesday with another sensational play in center field. Hamilton covered 58 feet of ground in just 3.6 seconds before laying out in full extension to glove Longoria's liner just before it hit the grass. Hamilton was given just a 16% probability to make the catch by Statcast™, making it his second 5-star play of the 2018 season.
Josh Reddick, Astros
Reddick found a way to get Michael Trout out, picking up a fifth-inning Shohei Ohtani single through the shift to right field and throwing out Trout on the fly with a 213-foot, 88.6 mph throw to third base. Trout gave it his all, reaching a max sprint speed of 30.3 feet per second while going from first to third. That's above Trout's 29.4 feet per second max-effort sprint speed average for the season, and above the 30.0 feet per second threshold for elite MLB footspeed.
But Reddick wasn't done. In the seventh, the Astros' right fielder delivered a 90.1 mph throw on the fly to nab Ian Kinsler at home plate. The pair of assists gave Reddick six on the season, and the Angels learned the hard way that teams should use plenty of caution when running on his arm.
Cody Bellinger, Dodgers
Los Angeles' slugger did his best to bring the Dodgers back in another tough loss to the Marlins on Tuesday, launching a 108.3 mph, 443-foot blast to straightaway center field off Miami reliever Tayron Guerrero.
That marked the second-farthest dinger of Bellinger's young career, but the Dodgers still lost, 4-2.