31 August 2023
It was a sight for sore eyes, and a site for a sore knee: Byron Buxton in center field for the Saints on Wednesday night at CHS Field.
Playing center field for the first time since Aug. 22 of last year, Buxton, on rehab assignment from the Twins as he recovers from a right hamstring strain, has been limited to serving as the Twins’ designated hitter this season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee last September.
The Twins hope to be able to determine this week whether Buxton will be able to return to center field when his rehab stint is completed. The Twins had said that Buxton would sit out Thursday’s game, but Saints manager Toby Gardenhire said postgame that he was still waiting to hear from Twins officials on what the plan will be going forward.
Buxton had a quiet night in the field, getting one putout on a soft fly ball and chasing down a double in left-center field. He was not made available to the media after the Saints’ 6-1 win over Columbus. Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey was in attendance and offered some comments to the media via a text message after Buxton left the game.
“From my perspective it was just fun to see Byron out there tonight.” Falvey said. “Not a ton of defensive action, but for Game 1 in the field I think you hope a few routine plays knock some rust off. That’s what he got.”
Buxton hit second in the order and singled to left in his first at-bat. He finished 1 for 2 with a pair of walks, leaving the game after seven innings.
“Im sure for him getting the chance to see some live pitching outside of live (batting practice) was another benefit,” Falvey said. “Working a couple of walks and squaring up a couple of balls was a bonus.”
Buxton was joined in the Saints lineup by Alex Kirilloff who also is on rehab assignment from the Twins. Kirilloff has been on the disabled list since July 30 due to a right shoulder strain. Kirilloff, hitting third as the designated hitter, went 1 for 5.
Not to be overlooked was the Triple-A debut of right-handed starter David Festa, who was called up to the Saints from Double-A Wichita on Monday. Festa earned the victory, limiting Columbus to four hits and one run in five innings. The run came on a home run in the third inning. He struck out seven.
“He’s young and he’s learning how to pitch,” Gardenhire said. “He did a nice job. It’s a lot of pressure to come up and throw his first game with the rehab guys here and everything.”
The 6-foot-6, 185-pound Festa was a 13th-round pick by the Twins in 2021 out of Seton Hall and has emerged as one of the top pitching prospects in the organization. He went 10-4 last season pitching for Fort Myers and Cedar Rapids and was 3-3 for Wichita at the time of his call-up.
“He was punching out a lot of guys down there at Double-A in the second half,” Gardenhire said. “We’re trying to get all our guys to be strikeout pitchers. You can have them pitch to contact, but when they’re young and they have really good stuff you want them to be able to strike guys out.”
Gardenhire said he expects Festa to be part of the Saints’ rotation moving forward.
Briefly
Andrew Stevenson and Jair Camargo each drove in a pair of runs for the Saints.
With Willi Castro also with the Saints on rehab assignment, there are 12 players currently with the team who are on the Twins’ 40-man roster.