Very rarely have the Minnesota Twins’ Wednesday afternoon victory over the Chicago White Sox seemed so lackluster…
Byron Buxton discusses the incident involving Lenyn Sosa
Minnesota defeated Chicago 3-1 to win its first series of the season against its AL Central rival and improve to 8-4 overall. However, everyone in Twins Territory is concerned about the price paid for that victory.
Kyle Farmer left the game in the fourth inning after being hit in the face with a 92 MPH fastball from Lucas Giolito. The team announced after the game that Farmer did not break his jaw, but instead underwent a procedure to realign his teeth and suture a laceration on his lower jaw.
After a collision with White Sox second baseman Lenyn Sosa, Twins fans were given another scare three innings later when Byron Buxton was flipped into the air and landed on his neck. Buxton left the game, and the Twins never returned to his position in the batting order, putting him in a position where he needed to be replaced.
Buxton would not have returned, according to Rocco Baldelli after the game. Buxton also addressed the collision and the notion that Sosa’s play was somehow dirty.
When asked about the collision after the game, Buxton appeared agitated at first, but then offered some candid comments.
“I don’t know, literally have zero clue,” Buxton said when asked about what caused the collision. “[I was] looking at the ball, next minute I’m on the ground. It is what it is.”
Here's part of a postgame conversation with Byron Buxton.
"It was very strange." Buxton on the game as a whole.
The collision he had at second base, and the unfortunate hit by pitch to the face to Kyle Farmer. #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/ux1wpCmhZj
— Alec Ausmus (@A_TwiceKSTP) April 12, 2023
Most fans reacted rationally to the bang-bang play, with some even suggesting that the position of the second base umpire may have obstructed Buxton and Sosa’s view of one another.
Buxton admitted he hadn’t seen the replay and that there was only one way for him to go, but he doesn’t blame Sosa for what happened.
“From what I’m hearing, there wasn’t too much for me to do other than go straight,” Buxton said before coming to Sosa’s defense. “By no means do I fault anybody, he’s going for the ball and I’m trying to get to the base. You know it’s baseball, that’s part of it.”
The game was absurd because of Farmer’s injury and what happened to Buxton, as well as Sonny Gray reportedly throwing up. Buxton made a point of mentioning how strange the game was given everything that had happened.
“It was very strange. Very, very strange. But like I said, it is what it is,” Buxton said. “We got the win and that’s most important, but definitely a strange game to play.”
