Byron Buxton provided an excellent demonstration of why you should always look both ways before exiting the dugout on Tuesday.
The Minnesota Twins star nearly put himself at risk of the mother of all weird baseball injuries in the middle of the sixth inning in a road game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday, when he emerged from the dugout not realizing the Brewers’ iconic sausage race was underway.
Buxton didn’t realize his error until he was standing squarely in the path of Sausage No. 1, aka Bratwurst. The outfielder at least showed pro athlete-reflexes getting out the way after looking behind himself.
Buxton went 1-for-4 during the game, a 3-2 Brewers win. He and teammate Ryan Jeffers at least had a fun exchange over the near-incident after the game, via The Athletic’s Dan Hayes:
Jeffers: “I think it would’ve been great if he got run over by the bratwurst. It would’ve been a way better story.”
Buxton: “Sheboygan would’ve had a good one.”
Jeffers: “As long as he’s OK. I mean, the bratwurst was OK.”
Buxton: “The bratwurst? What about me? That was a train collision because if I took out one, l’m taking out at least two.”
Jokes aside, Buxton already deals with enough injury risk without this kind of stuff happening. Despite the fact that he’s currently playing in the 10th season of his career, Buxton has crossed 100 games played in a year only once (2017). He missed nearly all of August and September last season due to knee and hamstring injuries.
This season, however, Buxton entered fully healthy, and the Twins can only hope he stays that way as they compete for a second-straight AL Central title. So far, he’s hitting .286/.375/.429 in four games.
