ST. PAUL – The St. Paul Saints had a lot of good going for them in their second game of a six-game homestand Wednesday night. Brent Headrick was back on the mound for the first time in five months, Randy Dobnak backed him up in long relief, and Byron Buxton was expected to play a full nine innings out in center field.
“It’s good to get back to form,” Headrick said on his return to the mound with the Saints. “Especially with all that time off, I had to make sure I had everything right before I got back. It took a little bit longer than I wanted, but I think it was for the best coming back now.”
However, Buxton never completed the full nine innings out in the field, not because another injury aggravated his hip but because he had his first-ever career ejection from a game after the bottom of the third.
Buxton came to the plate in the bottom of the third with a runner on second and two outs. On a 1-1 count, he asked home plate umpire Willie Traynor for a timeout, which Traynor did not grant. Traynor then called him for a pitch clock violation, making it a 1-2 count.
Buxton ended the at-bat striking out swinging but remained at home plate to have a few words with Traynor as Saints manager Toby Gardenhire rushed from the third base coach box to defend his center fielder. Whatever words Buxton said to Traynor as he began to strut back to the Saints dugout did not sit well with the home plate umpire, who threw Buxton out of the game.
“Buck thought he had more time, should have got more time there, and then he didn’t, so then they called the automatic strike,” Gardenhire said postgame. “So he was having a conversation with the guy after. The guy didn’t like what he was saying and threw him out. I was trying to get there and let Buck let him have his say, but the ump just didn’t like it, so it is what it is.”
Buxton was unavailable for an interview following the game because he departed the ballpark following his ejection.
While people naturally focused on Buxton’s ejection, it didn’t overshadow the performances on the mound from Headrick and Dobnak. Headrick completed the three full innings he was scheduled to throw, allowing only two hits and a walk, and struck out four on 43 pitches. He had a sense of relief and confidence built up after getting the final out in the third and keeping his pitch count under 50.
“It’s always nerve-racking not knowing what’s next or when you’re going to be ready again,” said Headrick. “During my live BPs, I was still trying to feel things out. It had been a while since I was on a mound, so I was trying to re-feel my pitches and do all that sort of stuff. But it’s good to see the velocity come back, and I think it’s only going up from here, along with just feeling good on a daily basis.”
“I think that was huge for him,” Saints pitching coach Pete Larson said on Headrick’s performance. “He looked really comfortable in the first, under control in the second, but we didn’t know if after the first time through the order would be the big separator, but he did a really nice job there.”
Headrick has never had an injury in his career that has kept him out for nearly five months. It was challenging for him to hang over the dugout for most of the season as his left forearm healed. However, being around his teammates in the Saints clubhouse while injured was a massive help.
“It was a blessing,” Headrick said. “Injuries can take a toll on you mentally, but with this group of guys, I was able to hang around until I had to go to Florida. It made it a lot easier every day coming into rehab and being a part of the team still.”
Dobnak’s last two starts were not good. He allowed 12 hits, nine earned runs, and eight walks in nine innings. He followed up Headrick’s three shutout innings with six dominant innings to finish St. Paul’s 2-1 win. Dobnak allowed only three base runners on two hits and a walk, and the lone run was from a home run to I-Cubs second baseman Chase Strumpf at the top of the fifth.
Dobnak said the outing wasn’t any different coming in later to the game than any other start. He’d already been prepped for long relief during his stint with the Minnesota Twins this season and was happy to have Headrick hand him the baton for the first time in a long while.
“It was good to see Brent back out there. He’s still got it,” Dobnak said. “I was just pounding the zone more if I was behind guys. I wasn’t giving in to a 2-0 fastball[, and] I wasn’t trying to get back in with a slider, changeup type of thing. But overall, [when] I’m just throwing strikes, staying around the zone, good things are going to happen, and I got a double play today.”
After the game, Gardenhire said he had no confirmation about whether Buxton’s ejection will keep him with the Saints for an extra day or if he’ll still have the planned off-day before rejoining the Twins in Kansas City. Caleb Boushley is set to start for the Saints tomorrow, with the first pitch at 6:37 p.m.
