Byron Buxton wasn't particularly excited that his first-inning home run was measured by Statcast at 466 feet, the second-longest of his career only to the 469-foot walk-off he hit against Liam Hendriks in April 2022.
And he didn't care much that his second home run, and team-high 13th of the season, two innings later sailed only one foot shorter.
"It doesn't matter as long as we win," Buxton said after passing Roy Smalley Jr. on the Twins' career home run list with 111. "They all count the same, so if they go over, they all feel good."
It's a nice reversal, however, for the Twins' cleanup hitter, who ended an 0-for-24 slump on Tuesday and has gone 5-for-11 with a double and three home runs since — including two in a 6-0 victory over the Red Sox on Thursday at Target Field.
The home runs were the first time since MLB introduced StatCast in 2015 that a player has hit two home runs of more than 460 feet in the same game.
"If you get out of your own head, you tend to do a lot more [good] things," Buxton said. "For me, it's letting go of those last three days, four days, and turning that page."
Keuchel signs minor league deal
Dallas Keuchel has beaten the Twins a half-dozen times during his 11-year career, including twice as recently as two summers ago. Now the Twins will see if Carlos Correa's former teammate has enough left to win a few games for them.
Keuchel, who won 101 games over his career and the 2015 AL Cy Young Award while with the Astros, signed a minor league contract with the Twins on Thursday. He'll report to Class AAA St. Paul, with an eye toward returning to the major leagues.