DETROIT — Byron Buxton can’t stop thinking about his struggles with runners in scoring position. He’s in the middle of another All-Star season, and he entered Wednesday tied for the fourth-most home runs in baseball, yet the Minnesota Twins center fielder is preoccupied with his failures in clutch spots.After delivering a key hit in Wednesday night’s 6-4 Twins victory over the Detroit Tigers, Buxton acknowledged feeling relief. Not only did his three-run homer off Tigers starter Framber Valdez in the fifth inning power the Twins to an urgent victory, but it also allowed him to stop overthinking.“It’s somewhere I’m struggling. I’m working real hard at that,” Buxton said. “Probably just putting a little bit too much pressure on myself in those situations because I want to get the job done. But it felt good to come through.”
We have no words for how good Byron Buxton is 🤯 pic.twitter.com/2e4XiW71Kk
— Twins.TV (@twinstv) June 11, 2026For the first time since April 5, Buxton didn’t bat leadoff on Wednesday. Hoping to shake things up, Twins manager Derek Shelton moved Buxton to second in the order behind Austin Martin. Not only did it make sense with the lefty Valdez pitching, but Shelton was hoping to change the fortunes of a Twins squad that had lost 11 of its previous 15 games, including five of the last six.The gambit paid off in the fifth inning.After hitting Alex Jackson and Martin with pitches to start the inning, Valdez left a first-pitch changeup up and away and Buxton punished it, blasting it for a 4-1 lead.“However many leadoff homers he has, (we’re) just trying to be in a situation where he has more guys on base,” Shelton said. “He comes through with the big three-run homer. Credit to him. He continues to do really good things for us this year. He’s one of the really premier players in the American League.”
