DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Byron Buxton and Max Kepler probably won't be in the Twins' lineup much longer, so Ron Gardenhire wants to see as much of the team's top prospects as he can right now. On Saturday, they showed him plenty.
Buxton crushed a home run into the trees beyond the left-center field fence, and fellow outfielder Kepler collected a single, double and a walk, raising his spring average to .500 (6-for-12). But the youngsters' contributions weren't enough, and Toronto rallied in the bottom of the ninth to claim a 4-3 victory over the Twins at Florida Auto Exchange Park.
"He hit the ball nice. That was a big home run," Gardenhire said of Buxton's third-inning blast, which scored Kepler ahead of him. "Wished he could have got another one."
Perhaps more surprising than Buxton's homer was his final at-bat, when he grounded into a double play with the go-ahead run on third base. Gardenhire said he rejected a hit-and-run or a squeeze play because "the only way he's going to hit into a double play is if he hits a bullet right at somebody." By playing in, however, Jays second baseman Chris Getz was able to turn Buxton's chopper into two outs, a play that surprised the rookie, too.
"The ball went right to him, and he gave a good flip," Buxton said. "It's been a while, but it happens."
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Buxton is just 3-for-19 (.158) in his first big-league training camp, but the 20-year-old said he is feeling more comfortable every day.
"I'm seeing the ball better than I was, hitting good pitches," he said. "They're not falling the way I want, but I've got to keep my head up and try to grind it out."
Phil Hughes started for the Twins and pitched an uneventful three innings, giving up only one hit and one walk, against the team he has faced more than any other in his career.
"It was OK. I kind of fell out of rhythm here and there, but I feel like that's going to happen," the righthander said. "For the most part, I was able to command the ball pretty well."
Glen Perkins gave up two runs on four hits in the fourth, one on a long home run by Jose Bautista. The Twins tied the score in the ninth on three consecutive singles, including Jermaine Mitchell's RBI hit to right, but the rally died with Buxton's double play.
Then Toronto responded with a single by Eric Kratz and a game-winning triple by Kenny Wilson off Trevor May that sailed over Buxton's head and hit the top of the wall.
