Byron Buxton homers twice, but Twins fall to Guardians for series split

Buxton got his 15th and 16th home runs of the year, but the Twins otherwise found little offense.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher David Festa (58) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Target Field in Minneapolis on Aug. 11, 2024. / Jordan Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

After their four-game series against the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians, the Twins found themselves right where they were before the series even started: 3.5 games back of the division lead.

Byron Buxton homered twice and the Twins loaded the bases with no outs to threaten a comeback in the ninth inning, but they were unable to break through in a 5-3 loss to the Guardians in their series finale Sunday afternoon in front of an announced crowd of 30,084 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

The two teams split the weekend series 2-2.

With the Twins trailing 5-3, Max Kepler led off the ninth inning with a single, Kyle Farmer drew a walk and Christian Vazquez hit a single to load the bases on Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase. But Clase struck out Willi Castro and got Trevor Larnach to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

Buxton got the Twins within two runs with his 366-foot, two-run shot in the eighth inning — his second homer of the day — but Minnesota wasn't able to make ninth-inning magic.

Byron Buxton has his 3rd multi-homer game this season! pic.twitter.com/32yLnUoH6W

— MLB (@MLB) August 11, 2024

David Festa pitched three scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fourth. He gave up a leadoff homer to Jose Ramirez, his 31st of the season, that knotted the game 1-1. Josh Naylor then singled, and Festa walked David Fry before getting Andres Gimenez to ground into a fielder's choice.

Festa issued another walk to Daniel Schneemann that loaded the bases and ended his day after 3 1/3 innings. Festa gave up just the one run — Jorge Alcala came on in relief and was able to get out of the bases-loaded jam — and surrendered three hits and three walks while fanning three batters.

The Twins turned to Caleb Thielbar in the sixth inning after Alcala followed up with a 1-2-3 fifth frame, but Thielbar also ran into trouble, giving up a 405-foot solo homer to Fry before issuing back-to-back walks to Gimenez and Schneemann. Thielbar's day ended after striking out Bo Naylor the next at-bat.

Cole Sands came on in relief but gave up back-to-back RBI singles to Brayan Rocchio and Steven Kwan before surrendering an RBI double to Will Brennan. That put the Guardians (69-49) up 5-1.

The Twins (65-52) struck first in the second inning when Buxton hit a 378-foot solo homer to left field off Guardians starter Tanner Bibee. But Bibee otherwise had the Twins' number. Despite giving up six hits, he surrendered just one run and no walks while fanning five across 5 2/3 innings.

Aside from Buxton, Vazquez was another bright spot for the Twins offense, hitting a pair of two-out doubles while going 3 for 4 overall. Vazquez went 1 for 2 with a walk and a run scored in Friday's nightcap — he also had two nice baserunning plays — in a strong weekend overall.

Randy Dobnak pitched scoreless seventh, eighth and ninth innings, allowing two hits and two walks while fanning three. It was his best outing since being called up and was big for saving bullpen arms.

The Twins begin a three-game home series against another division rival — the Kansas City Royals — on Monday. First pitch back at Target Field is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. CST.

"I did tell our guys after the game, just very quickly, every series we play from here on out will be our most important series of the season," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "And the season — we still got two months to play, about two months to play, so we got plenty of games going on."