Byron Buxton had a surprising career first in Twins' win over Padres

Buxton didn't end up scoring, as Luke Keaschall struck out and Brooks Lee flew out. But in stealing third, he put himself in position to score a run on a potential sacrifice fly or a ground ball from Keaschall, not just a hit.

One inning later, after the Twins had scored four runs, Buxton stole second base — something he had done 112 times before. He's up to 27 home runs and 21 steals this season, with 28 games remaining to add to those totals.

The 20/20 season is the eighth in Twins history and the first since Brian Dozier did it in 2014. The other Minnesota players to reach those marks are Torii Hunter (twice), Corey Koskie, Marty Cordova, Kirby Puckett, and Larry Hisle. Puckett, in 1986, is the only Twin to ever have a 30/20 season, which is very much in reach for Buxton over the season's final month. The first 30/30 campaign in franchise history might even be possible if Buxton ups his aggressiveness on the bases.

Frankly, there's no reason why this should've been Buxton's first career steal of third. When he's healthy, he's one of the two or three fastest players in the sport. Buxton hasn't been caught stealing once this season, and he's only been caught 12 times in his career (compared to 114 successful steals). Four of those came in his first two seasons.

Yes, he can score from second base on a single to the outfield every time, but those are no sure thing. Getting to third base with fewer than two outs creates all kinds of other ways to score — sacrifice flies, RBI groundouts, wild pitches, maybe even a balk. There's some risk that comes with attempting to steal third, but Buxton is so fast that it feels safe to assume he would add far more value than he subtracts if taking off from second base were to become a regular part of his game, like it is for other elite speedsters.

As a team, the Twins have been running more of late. They stole four bases on Friday — slugger Matt Wallner also had two steals, the eighth and ninth of his career — after stealing a season-high five in their most recent game against Toronto. Three of their four games this year with at least three steals have come within their last seven contests.

In another frustrating Twins season, it's been fantastic to see Buxton mostly stay healthy and thrive. He's played in 101 of Minnesota's 134 games, reaching the 100-game mark for the second straight year and just the third time in his career. Very soon, he'll surpass last year's 102 games played and have his most since he played in 140 in 2017.

Matthews, decisive fourth inning lead Twins to win

The Twins got a strong start from Zebby Matthews in Friday's series-opening victory over a good Padres team. Having allowed nine earned runs in his previous 14.1 innings pitched, Matthews gave up just two over six frames at Target Field. He surrendered seven hits but didn't walk any batters, which is encouraging after he walked a combined seven over his last two outings.

In a decisive fourth inning, the Twins scored two runs on a Jake Cronenworth fielding error and then added two more on a single from Trevor Larnach. A homer from Royce Lewis and a Buxton RBI single in the fifth made it 7-2, and the Twins held on from there to win 7-4. Larnach, Lewis, Ryan Jeffers, and Austin Martin combined for nine of the Twins' 12 hits.

Next up on Saturday evening: Taj Bradley makes his second start for the Twins (61-73) against Nick Pivetta and the Padres (75-60). It's a 6:10 p.m. game.