Buxton's Grand Slam Highlights Twins' Season-High 16 Runs in Win Over D-Backs

The Twins scored a season-best 16 runs in a blowout win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night, with Byron Buxton's 24th homer of the season — a grand slam — being the biggest highlight of the offensive explosion.

Minnesota did all of its damage in just three innings, scoring two runs in the first, four in the fourth, and 10 in the fifth inning. Final score: Twins 16, Diamondbacks 8.

In the first inning, the Twins used three hits and a walk to do the damage, with Brooks Lee's two-out sinle driving in the first two runs of the game.

In the fourth, the Twins scored four runs on five straight singles from Lee, Victor Caratini, Luke Keaschall, Ryan Kreidler, and Trevor Larnach. Minnesota put up six singles and a walk in the inning.

In the fifth, the first six Twins batters reached base. They got a leadoff triple from Lee, an RBI double from Caratini, a single from Keaschall, a run-scoring single from Kreidler, a walk from Larnach, and then the grand slam from Buxton.

YOU BETTER BUCKING BELIEVE IT AND YOU BETTER BUCKING VOTE

⭐️ https://t.co/JigNJ4kZOb pic.twitter.com/FZy9iL1kAD
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) June 21, 2026

Buxton's blast pushed the lead to 12-0. But the Twins weren't done, as Caratini added a two-run single and Kreidler smoked a two-run triple off the wall in center field for a 16-0 lead.

So, yeah. It was a good start as the Twins ripped 19 hits in the first five innings. Everything came to a screeching halt from there, as Royce Lewis's double to start the seventh inning was the Twins' final hit of the night.

The D-Backs had no chance, although Twins right-hander Justin Lawrence gave them life with an ugly bottom of the seventh inning in which he walked the bases loaded before later walking in a run, allowing a three-run double, and then a run-scoring single before Twins manager Derek Shelton replaced him with Eric Orze to get the final out of the inning.

Justin Lawrence came in to pitch the seventh inning with a 16-2 lead and did this:

Walk
Walk
Walk
Strikeout
Walk
Double
Strikeout
Single

Threw just 17 of 40 pitches for strikes, allowed five runs, and recorded two outs.

Lawrence has allowed 12 runs in 6 innings with the Twins. pic.twitter.com/t3fZjX0cFj
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) June 21, 2026

Minnesota has scored 42 runs in its last four games.

Want a fun stat to end on? The Twins lead the American League with 384 runs scored this season. That ranks second in the majors, only trailing the Washington Nationals, who have scored 413 runs.

At 37-41, the Twins are still within 4 1/2 games of the Guardians for first place in the AL Central, and only 1 1/2 games out of the final wild-card spot.

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