A couple of extras from a busy night at the ballpark:
Byron Buxton said he was fine. Well, as good as could be expected.
The Twins' center fielder was almost a victim of his own range again on Tuesday, racing back to the wall in an effort to catch Ryan Braun's straightaway blast.
But the ball tailed toward right field, Buxton had to make an unexpectedly awkward jump backwards, and the ball glanced off Buxton's glove just before he crashed into the padded wall.
Did it hurt? "Oh yeah," Buxton said afterward. He laid at the base of the wall for a moment while the play went on — Braun reached third base for a triple as the ball rolled toward the infield — but then jumped up when fellow outfielders Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario arrived to check on him. "It stunned me for a second. I hit pretty hard," he said.
Buxton sounded a little surprised he didn't make the catch, but said there was a reason. Its flight was not a normal path, he said, something he didn't realize until he got to the wall.
"Castro said once it got about halfway out there, and I was probably at full speed, it started slicing really hard to the right," Buxton said, referring to catcher Jason Castro. "I didn't realize how much it was moving away from me, so I had to turn around at the end."
The play was ultimately harmless, except for whatever bruises Buxton sustained from the crash. Adalberto Mejia left Braun stranded at third by getting Travis Shaw to hit a shallow fly to left, and Hernan Perez to fly out, ending the inning. And Braun finished just a home run short of a cycle, striking out in the ninth inning.
