{"id":76184,"date":"2025-08-11T09:23:53","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T09:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184"},"modified":"2025-08-11T09:23:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T09:23:53","slug":"twins-veteran-ryan-fitzgerald-busts-out-big-stick-for-first-mlb-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184","title":{"rendered":"Twins: Veteran Ryan Fitzgerald busts out big stick for first MLB hit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n

Longtime minor league veteran smacked a two-run HR Sunday for his first major league hit<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Ryan<\/div>
Minnesota Twins\u2019 Ryan Fitzgerald (53) runs the bases after hitting a 2-run home run as his first career hit during the third inning of a baseball game against the Kansas City Royals Sunday, Aug. 10, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo\/Abbie Parr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Ryan Fitzgerald hit his first major league home run in the Twins\u2019 5-3, 11-inning victory over Kansas City on Sunday. It bounced out of the porch in right field, so retrieving it wasn\u2019t an issue \u2014 no trades necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone wants my stuff anyway,\u201d Fitzgerald said, holding the ball, already in a case ready to be given to his father. \u201cThey\u2019d probably ask me for Keaschall\u2019s stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly lost in the dramatic catharsis of Luke Keaschall\u2019s two-run walk-off homer, and even Michael Tonkin\u2019s two-inning extras escape act, was Fitzgerald\u2019s best game \u2026 probably ever.<\/p>\n

The infielder has probably gone 5 for 5 before, and hit a walk-off home run somewhere. He has 12 seasons of college, minor league and independent baseball under his belt. But Sunday was special.<\/p>\n

Sunday was in the majors, and the 31-year-old Fitzgerald was really good. He made his mark by hitting a two-run, go-ahead home run in the third inning for his first major league hit, and making some big outs on defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey cleaned house last week, but it\u2019s fun,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a good group of ballplayers, and I think it\u2019s a good brand of baseball.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

After playing off the bench in two games in May, Fitzgerald was recalled from Class AAA St. Paul in the wake of the Twins\u2019 dramatic selloff at the July 31 trade deadline. In his first major league start on Sunday, he went 2 for 4 with a homer and single and, playing third base, fell over the tarp in left field to catch a pop foul.<\/p>\n

He moved to shortstop in extras and made a key out as veteran right-hander Michael Tonkin performed a two-inning escape act for the victory.<\/p>\n

Fitzgerald, who attended Creighton and was about to accept an invitation to play in the Mexican League when the Twins called this offseason, started his professional career with the independent South Bend Railcats in 2017. He made it as high as Triple-A in the Red Sox system and was playing in the Dominican League in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to say (I thought) it would never come. Never say never,\u201d Fitzgerald said Sunday. \u201cBut, obviously, the window was closing. The older you get, the less chance you have of making it. \u2026 It\u2019s a grind when you just keep getting put down and don\u2019t get a chance.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell people, \u2018How am I going to put my head on the pillow at night and tell my kids to chase my dreams if I don\u2019t do it?\u2019 That\u2019s kind of where it comes from.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Fitzgerald is the 15th player in Twins history to homer for his first major league hit. The last to do it was Caleb Hamilton on Sept. 25, 2022.<\/p>\n

Same plan for Buxton<\/h4>\n

Byron Buxton appears close to returning from the injured list and the Twins have no plans to give the veteran center fielder more off days as the team winds down a season that won\u2019t end in the postseason.<\/p>\n

Sidelined since leaving a July 26 loss to Washington with inflammation in his left rib cage, Buxton will travel to New York for a three-game series against the Yankees and could be activated as early as Monday.<\/p>\n

Before getting hurt, Buxton, 31, was on pace to get near his career-high of 140 games played in 2017. He has played in 85 games and been on the IL twice, the first time for a concussion suffered in a collision with then-teammate Carlos Correa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re just going to plan on playing Buck every day as he has been,\u201d manager Rocco Baldelli said before the Twins series finale against Kansas City on Sunday. \u201cWhen he needs a day, he gets a day. It\u2019s pretty straightforward. I\u2019m not overthinking it. I think we\u2019re going to have Buck on the field every day that he is capable of playing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

An all-star for the second time this season, Buxton leads the Twins in home runs (23), RBIs (59), triples (4), stolen bases (17) and \u2014 among players with at least 50 at-bats \u2014 OPS (.901)..<\/p>\n

Briefly<\/h4>\n

Mickey Gasper became the first catcher other than Ryan Jeffers and Christian Vazquez to start a game behind the plate for the Twins since the start of the 2023 season. It was his first major league start as a catcher.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Longtime minor league veteran smacked a two-run HR Sunday for his first major league hit Minnesota Twins\u2019 Ryan Fitzgerald (53) runs the bases after hitting a 2-run… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":76189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nTwins: Veteran Ryan Fitzgerald busts out big stick for first MLB hit - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twins: Veteran Ryan Fitzgerald busts out big stick for first MLB hit - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Longtime minor league veteran smacked a two-run HR Sunday for his first major league hit Minnesota Twins\u2019 Ryan Fitzgerald (53) runs the bases after hitting a 2-run...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-11T09:23:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1-35.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsThao\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184\",\"name\":\"Twins: Veteran Ryan Fitzgerald busts out big stick for first MLB hit - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1-35.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-11T09:23:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-11T09:23:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1-35.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1-35.png\",\"width\":760,\"height\":760},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Twins: Veteran Ryan Fitzgerald busts out big stick for first MLB hit\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731\",\"name\":\"MsThao\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MsThao\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Twins: Veteran Ryan Fitzgerald busts out big stick for first MLB hit - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Twins: Veteran Ryan Fitzgerald busts out big stick for first MLB hit - NEWS USA","og_description":"Longtime minor league veteran smacked a two-run HR Sunday for his first major league hit Minnesota Twins\u2019 Ryan Fitzgerald (53) runs the bases after hitting a 2-run...","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-08-11T09:23:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":760,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1-35.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"MsThao","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MsThao","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184","name":"Twins: Veteran Ryan Fitzgerald busts out big stick for first MLB hit - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1-35.png","datePublished":"2025-08-11T09:23:53+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-11T09:23:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1-35.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1-35.png","width":760,"height":760},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=76184#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Twins: Veteran Ryan Fitzgerald busts out big stick for first MLB hit"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/73dec88841ffe3be696a72d46df40731","name":"MsThao","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23335ad696d6700b03ba8d09f84a67eadb58cde164fc044a22845ec8be19771f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MsThao"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=3"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76190,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76184\/revisions\/76190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/76189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}