The Brewers’ Keston Hiura got a tough lesson Wednesday on why it’s important to run out every ball -- and the Twins took advantage for a crafty double play.
In the first inning at Target Field, Hiura came to bat with one out and Christian Yelich on first base. Hiura took an awkward swing at a big curveball from Minnesota starter Rich Hill and looped a pop fly toward the right side of the infield.
Twins second baseman Ildemaro Vargas could have made the catch easily. Instead, seeing that Hiura was not running down the line, Vargas smartly let the ball fall in front of him. He then was able to grab it on one hop and throw to second base to force out Yelich, who had to hold at first in case the ball was caught. Shortstop Jorge Polanco threw back to first to complete the double play on Hiura, who was still nowhere near the bag at the time.
That ended a scoreless inning for the Brewers’ offense, although Hiura did get some redemption in the Brewers' 9-3 win. In his next plate appearance in the third, he kept a rally alive with a bloop single to center as Milwaukee scored four runs after the first two batters in the inning were retired.
Then in the ninth, he tacked on the Crew's final run of the night with his sixth home run.