Byron Buxton does a lot of things well. Hitting home runs is one of them.
The Minnesota Twins outfielder put his power on display Wednesday night with one of the longest home runs of the MLB season.
With two men on and a 2-2 count, Buxton was offered a 90 mph slider by Texas Rangers starter Jack Leiter on the outside edge of the plate. Buxton turned on it and launched the ball deep over the left-centerfield wall.
Broadcast cameras lost track of it as it landed in the stands high above the outfield bullpen.
By the time it landed, Buxton’s blast had traveled an estimated 479 feet. The home run was second in distance this season to only Mike Trout’s 484-foot blast for the Los Angeles Angels against the San Francisco Giants on April 19.
It eclipsed a headline-grabbing 469-foot bomb from New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge Tuesday night. And it turned a 2-0 Twins deficit into a 3-2 Twins lead.
Buxton’s off to a strong start at the plate this season with a .268/.327/.490 slash line entering Wednesday night. The home run was the 11th of the season in 51 games and pushed his RBI tally to 41.
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