Joey Gallo smashed his 11th homer of the season and Trevor Larnach tripled and scored on a wild play in the Minnesota Twins’ 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels Saturday night.
Gallo’s shot down the right-field line gave the Twins a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning. His 11 home runs are tied for 10th most in the majors and fifth most in the American League, only trailing Adolis Garcia (14), Aaron Judge (13), Rafael Devers (13) and Luis Robert Jr. (12).
38% of Joey Gallo's career hits have been home runs and that's more than anyone else in MLB history!https://t.co/Hc0lb8RixH
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) May 21, 2023
Leading 4-2 in the seventh, the wildest play of the game went down as Trevor Larnach ripped a ball down the right-field line and went all the way to third for a triple, but the relay to third skipped past third baseman Gio Urshela and Larnach was able to sprint home and slide safely into home plate home for a Little League home run and a 6-2 Minnesota lead.
Trevor Larnach
Little League home run
Christian Vázquez meets him at the top step of the dugout with a water bottle pic.twitter.com/Igv7WbCZ6Q
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) May 21, 2023
The bad news is that Byron Buxton left the game in the sixth inning with tightness in his right knee. He’s not expected to be in the starting lineup Sunday and his status going forward is unclear, though manager Rocco Baldelli suggested that it won’t be a long-term issue.
“He’s been playing a lot of good baseball. He’s been running his ass off out there and it flared up a little bit,” Baldelli said, according to Betsy Helfand of the Pioneer Press.
Buxton’s health will be paramount after second baseman Jorge Polanco landed on the injured list with a strained hamstring. He didn’t play Saturday and infielder Edouard Julien was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul.
