DETROIT – Byron Buxton said Kurt Suzuki had a hand in him getting his first major league home run.
"Suzuki just said, 'Go up there and get your first one,' " Buxton said. "I just went up there and tried to get a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it."
And he did, drilling a 96-mile-per-hour fastball from Jose Valdez into the seats in left in the eighth inning for his first home run in 129 major league plate appearances during the Twins' 7-1 rout of the Tigers on Sunday. Teammates tried to give him the silent treatment once he returned to the dugout, but he didn't care, slapping some players' heads before hugging Eduardo Escobar.
"When you make contact like that, you barely feel yourself swinging," said Buxton, who was 2-for-4 with a home run, double and two RBI in his first start since Sept. 19. "I'm just glad I got that out of the way and I try to keep moving forward."
It wasn't the only first Sunday.Miguel Sano hit the first triple of his career when he lined a pitch into the right-center gap in the ninth inning. Sano, who has been nursing a sore hamstring, twice stumbled slightly but was safe.
"I don't know what odds were higher, Buxton's first homer or Sano's first triple," manager Paul Molitor said. "We got them both out of the way."
That kept the inning alive, and Max Kepler was able to make his major league debut. Pinch hitting for Torii Hunter, the Twins Minor League Player of the Year struck out against lefthander Tom Gorzelanny and his funky breaking ball.
"It was awesome," Kepler said of his first at-bat. "I was too swing-happy."