Byron Buxton homers has four RBIs

SEATTLE — Byron Buxton was possibly the only person who could tell the switch had been flipped.

On June 22, the 30-year-old went 1-for-4 with three strikeouts in Oakland in the first game of the Twins’ road trip. He was hitting .226 in June, with more K’s than hits.

But there was something there, in that rough night in the Bay, that was the sign Buxton had been looking for.

“I think I told Aaron [Rhodes], our strength coach,” Buxton said. “It was in Oakland … and I was like, ‘I’m about to get hot.’

“And he just looked at me, and I was like, ‘Watch.’”

One week later, and everyone else is seeing what Buxton saw coming. The veteran came back from a scheduled day off and didn’t lose a step, going 2-for-4 and driving in four of Minnesota’s runs in a 5-1 win over the Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Saturday night to continue a red-hot road trip.

“I do think it just means he is in a good spot right now,” said Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, “both in the batter’s box, but also mentally to be able to take that day and kind of reposition himself the following day and be right where he left off. He looks good and it’s not just the swings. It’s the thought process and the approach that goes along with it.”

Buxton put the Twins ahead for good in the top of the fourth inning on a double to left field, just out of the reach of a diving Luke Raley, bringing Carlos Santana around to score. In the sixth, he hit one out and put the game out of the Mariners’ reach on a 409-foot, three-run shot into the bullpen.

The Buck Truck officially made it to the Pacific Northwest. He might not want to return home, though.

In the six games he’s played on the Twins’ road trip, Buxton has logged five multi-hit outings, driven in a run in all six, and slashed a cool .478/.500./1.174. He’s homered in four of his last five games.

In just one big week, the outfielder has raised his batting average by 27 points to .265 — the highest it’s been since April 2 — and his OPS by 81.

Eight of Buxton’s 17 fastest exit velocities this season have come since Minnesota’s West Coast swing began on June 22; his average exit velocity of 100.3 in that span leads all hitters with more than nine at-bats.

“He’s on a lot of different pitches right now,” Baldelli said. “He’s hitting the ball well out over the plate, when he’s getting pitched in he’s not expanding. He’s finding ways to just have good at-bats, put himself in good counts.

“But the swing, as I’ve said a couple times before, it looks very synced up, it looks very tight and it’s very impactful. He’s finding the barrel and the ball just really takes off when he’s putting good swings on the ball.”

Buxton’s big swings backed up another quality start from Pablo López, who struck out nine in six innings and retired the last 10 batters he faced after allowing a solo home run to Mitch Haniger and needing 32 pitches to get out of the third inning.

“That’s a combination of really good ability, but also there’s almost a professionalism aspect to it,” Baldelli said. “It’s hard to refocus sometimes when you expend that much energy, both mental and physical energy trying to hold it together and get through that really difficult inning.

“Sometimes guys might only have another good inning after that, maybe one, maybe two. But Pablo was able to not just pull it together, but he pitched his best after working his butt off in that inning.”

López finished with 18 whiffs on the night — one off from his season high — including eight on his 26 sweepers.

As soon as López got out of the tough frame, Buxton — who popped out in his first trip to the plate — came through with his first knock to give his starter a lead right back. Since his three-strikeout game — and the foresight that followed — Buxton has only gotten out in back-to-back at-bats once.

Now, the Twins have one more game on their 10-game road trip, before Buxton will try to bring the power back home to Minnesota.

“It’s fun to struggle,” Buxton said. “It’s always more fun to get out of it, so I’m having a little bit more fun now.”