Twins manager Rocco Baldelli says baseball's 'unwritten rules' should be unfollowed, too

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli sounded on Tuesday like someone ready to rip a few pages out of the unwritten rules of baseball.

"I'm looking forward to somebody in baseball doing something really exciting today so we don't, as an industry, have to talk about this that much more," he said.

Baldelli was referring to the kerfuffle Monday night when San Diego's Fernando Tatis Jr. took a mighty swing on a 3-0 pitch and hit a grand slam when the Padres already led by seven runs over the Rangers. Texas' Ian Gilbaut threw behind Manny Machado on the next at-bat.

Tatis said after the game that he wasn't aware of an unwritten rule about swinging away in that situation. Baldelli believes the game is better off if players compete no matter the score or circumstances.

"I think every team should do whatever they have to do to win a ballgame," Baldelli said. "There's going to come a day where someone's going to stop playing to their fullest capability and you're going to lose a game where you're up by six or seven or eight runs because of that."

Also on Monday, Atlanta reliever Will Smith yelled at Washington's Juan Soto for lingering to admire a long home run he'd just hit. Soto responded with a leisurely trot around the bases.

Some have argued that unwritten rules are hard to follow when players don't know them all. And players in this era are learning how to be more expressive on the field — bat flips, etc. — without insulting those who are old school.

How can players express themselves without insulting others?

"I understand completely that there are situations in baseball where people have felt disrespected on one side of the field for a particular reason," Baldelli said. "So be it. I truthfully believe every team should do whatever they think is best and we'll take care of our group and kind of operate the way we think is right and the team on the other side of the field should also do the same.

"If you're up by 15 runs and it's the last inning, I could tell you we're probably not going to be bunting, we're probably not going to be swinging 3-0 in certain situations but in any kind of competitive ballgame … I think we should play to win."

The Twins entered Tuesday ninth in runs scored (112), which is unexpected for a team that was second in MLB a year ago. But they were tied with the Yankees with the second-largest run differential in baseball at plus-38.

While the offense hasn't clicked, the Twins pitching staff's 3.33 ERA is ranked third in MLB. Defensively, the Twins committed two errors in their first 23 games, the fewest in club history.

"Seeing a group that you know can play that other brand of baseball but also this tighter brand of baseball, with pitching and defense coming into play in a big way every night, it's a pretty solid feeling," Baldelli said. "But as far as the run differential part, the only run differential really that I care about is tonight's."

The Twins have used an "opener" three times this season. The Twins have gone 2-1 in those games, with their openers posting a 1.80 ERA.

The Twins could have reached over to the St. Paul camp and tried a spot starter such as top prospect Jhoan Duran. But they have decided to rely on a bullpen that has been a strength in the early part of the season.

"The guys have accepted the challenge," pitching coach Wes Johnson said. "When you go to guys and ask them to throw multiple innings like we've done with Matt Wisler or Tyler Clippard … that's not easy.

"These guys are conditioned to come in and give one inning, three outs and now we're asking them to do up-downs, which if you talk to a lot of relievers, it's really hard on their body and they don't recover as fast. What they've done has been phenomenal and we're not done leaning on them."