The Cedar Rapids Kernels were having a rough night Thursday, trailing the Burlington Bees 6-3 going into the bttom of the ninth inning of their Class A Midwest League game.
As Kernels correspondent S.D. Buhr of the Iowa web site website metrosportsreport.com put it: "For the first two hours and 40 minutes of their game ... the Cedar Rapids Kernels were having one of their worst nights of the season."
Then, the Kernels loaded the bases on a double and two hit batsmen and Byron Buxton, the Twins' No. 1 pick in last June's amateur draft, came to the plate.
Here's what happened next:
Sometimes, a video is worth 10,000 words.
Still, here are some words. Kernels manager Jake Mauer offered this after the game when he told Buhr: "People pay a lot more attention to what's going on in the minor leagues. Everybody knows everything about everybody. I think the biggest thing that he knows is he's just got to go out and play. Doesn't have to change who he is or what he does, just go play the game."
Meanwhile, Buhr described the postgame scene this way: "Buxton got the traditional shaving cream to the face during a television interview in front of the Kernels dugout after the game. While these sorts of heroics are almost becoming commonplace for Buxton, he doesn't seem to be letting all the attention go to his head. Following the television interview, he spent several minutes signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans by the Kernels dugout before joining the celebration going on in the team's clubhouse."
You can read Buhr's full report here.
