Byron Buxton Did Some More Crazy Road Runner Shit Last Night

The Minnesota Twins are part of that seven-team morass of mediocre teams crammed within three games of the second AL Wild Card spot, which means every game from here on in is an important one. Which, in turn, means every ridiculous feat of superhuman speed from Byron Buxton has new and greater importance. Take, for example, this blistering inside the park homer on a ball that spent roughly four seconds unsecured in the outfield after caroming off the wall in dead center:

That’s not supposed to be a dinger! Hell, for some dudes, that’s not a triple. Buxton turned it into the fastest inside-the-park homer ever measured by Statcast. It happened with the Twins down 3-2 in the fourth inning last night, and was part of a terrific three-hit night for Buxton where all of his hits went for extra bases: a second-inning triple that led to a run; the lead-off inside-the-park job in the fourth inning; and a sixth-inning double that eventually led to another run. Buxton bats seventh in Minnesota’s lineup, but when he’s making contact he is easily one of the most electrifying players in all of baseball.