MINNEAPOLIS – Facing Tigers utility man Zach McKinstry and his sub-40 mile per hour pitches in the eighth inning of the Twins’ 11-1 win on Monday night, Walker Jenkins had one thought in his mind.
“Dude. Don't strike out,” Jenkins recalled.
It was obviously a different challenge from facing the high-90s heat of Detroit starter Jackson Jobe, but Jenkins said it was no less daunting. Nobody wants to look silly against a position player.
“I was more nervous for that than my normal at-bats, without a doubt,” Jenkins said. “But I’ve legit had coaches tell me if you face a guy like that, try to hit it off the foul pole. It worked out.”
Fellow rookie and recent debutant Kaelen Culpepper had led off the inning with a walk off McKinstry. That brought up Jenkins, batting in the nine hole in his fourth Major League game.
Jenkins laid off the first pitch from McKinstry then fouled off the second before connecting on a 1-1 offering. It was the third hit of his big league career, after he debuted on Friday night. He also walked and scored earlier in the game.
And though he took a little grief in the dugout for how No. 1 occurred, nobody begrudged him enjoying the moment. Your first homer is your first homer.
“It’s a position player, but it’s the first one,” said Kody Clemens. “Down the road, no one is going to remember, oh, he got to 20 because he hit the one off the position player. Whatever. It’s a home run in the books and on the stat sheet. I’m super happy for him. You get it out of the way.”
Jenkins himself was able to laugh about it as well. He received an ovation from the Target Field crowd as he ran back into center field following the homer, and the cameras clearly caught him with a little chuckle.
“It was awesome, but I was getting cracked up,” Jenkins said. “People giving me an ovation for hitting a homer off a position player. It was great, but I was enjoying the moment.”