Twins Tantrum

Here’s a baseball story that made me laugh.

Yesterday afternoon the Twins were finishing up a three game series in Charm City. We’re at one out in the bottom of the 9^th inning and the Twins are up 7-0 so the game looks to be pretty much over. A lefty, Chance Sisco (tell me that’s not a cool baseball name), is at the plate for Baltimore and the Twins, playing with the thought that the hitter is going to pull the ball somewhere to the right side of the field, put on a defensive shift to the right which moved their third baseman over to the shortstop position leaving an enormous hole on the left side of the infield. Twins pitcher José Berríos throws a 92 mile-per-hour fastball and Sisco smartly drops a bunt down the third base line for a base hit. The bunt either rattled Berríos or sparked the Orioles because even though they didn’t score a run, they did manage to create a fair amount of drama by loading the bases before the Twins made the final out to end the game and preserve Berríos’ complete game shutout.

So the game ends and the Twins win and all is good, right? You’d think so, but the Twins weren’t happy with Sisco’s bunt and they took to Twitter to complain

From second baseman Brian Dozier: “Obviously, we’re not a fan of it. He’s a young kid. I could’ve said something at 2nd base but they have tremendous veteran leadership over there.”

From Twins starter, José Berríos: “I don’t care if he’s bunting. I just know it’s not good for baseball in that situation. That’s it.”

From Twins leftfielder Eddie Rosario: “Nobody liked that. No, no, no. That’s not a good play.”

Now there are a lot of unwritten rules in baseball and one of them is that you don’t bunt to break up a no-hitter but that wasn’t the case here. Berríos was pitching a shutout and going for a complete game but this wasn’t a no-hitter so what are the Twins whining about? And speaking of unwritten rules, there’s another unwritten rule that says a team doesn’t try stealing bases when they have a large lead which is exactly what Twins manager Paul Molitor had Byron Buxton do in the top of the 5^th inning with the Twins up 6-0.

So, sadly, I guess my hometown nine, the Minnesota Twins, have proven that there is, in fact, crying in baseball.

I’m happy we won the game but not so happy with the embarrassing outburst.