MINNEAPOLIS – Sometimes the ball just bounces your way.
The Twins got a key out Monday night when what looked like a wild pitch instead caromed right back to catcher Victor Caratini, setting up a Tigers out on the bases in a crucial spot. The play helped Minnesota escape from an eighth-inning jam en route to a 7-3 win.
With runners on first and second base, Kody Funderburk threw a pitch that went past Caratini to the limestone wall behind home plate. But the bounce was perfect, hitting off the bottom of the wall and landing right in Caratini’s glove.
Riley Greene hadn’t strayed too far off second base, but Spencer Torkelson was well on the way from first to second, and he was soon dead to rights.
“The baseball gods were with us today,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “We used the limestone extremely well and got ourselves in a situation. And then that’s a play that can really get screwed up, because it can turn into an old-school pickle that you’re used to on the playground. But it didn’t.”
Caratini threw to first baseman Kody Clemens, who successfully executed the rundown with shortstop Brooks Lee, getting the out on Torkelson while keeping Greene at second.
“It’s pretty unlucky,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “I mean, we know – we’ve played here a ton, so we know – the ball to the backstop has a chance to do that. But generally you don’t see a ball in the air get back to the backstop, but low enough to hit the hard part of the backstop. So it’s pretty unlucky.”
A runner was erased, and though the Tigers drew yet another walk in the inning, they did not score.
“That’s a weird way to draw up an out, but it worked,” Funderburk said.