PHOENIX (AP) — Byron Buxton hit a grand slam for his 24th home run of the season in the Minnesota Twins' 10-run fifth inning against Arizona on Saturday night in a 16-8 victory.
Buxton tied Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for the American League homer lead and made the score 12-0. It was the center fielder’s third career grand slam.
The Twins already led 6-0 after batting around and scoring four runs in the fourth. They topped that in the fifth, sending 14 men to the plate. Brooks Lee, Victor Caratini, Luke Keaschall and Ryan Kriedler each had two hits in the inning, with Kriedler’s triple driving in the final two runs to make it 16-0.
Zac Gallen started for Arizona but left after giving up the first three hits of the inning. He was charged with nine runs and 12 hits in four-plus innings, both career highs.
“We came out, we just continued to put pressure on," Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “I mean, the (fourth) inning, we put the ball in play. We didn’t hit a lot of balls hard to start it, and we found some holes, and then we just continued to build on it. Really proud of our group for doing that.”
Lee started the fifth with a triple, added a double later, has four hits for the game and finished 4 for 6, a home run short of a cycle.
“I just felt like once Gallen came out, we still had our foot on the pedal,” Lee said. “It was awesome.”
As for the would-be cycle, Diamondbacks position player Ildemaro Vargas was pitching in the ninth and retired Lee on a popup to short.
“I thought to myself, like, `If it doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen. But I’m going to swing hard,” Lee said.
Yilber Díaz relieved Gallen and gave up seven hits, including Buxton’s home run, and seven runs. He threw 44 pitches and recorded two outs. Philip Abner relieved and got the final out of the inning.
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