Twins capitalize on gift Pirates passed ball in three-run first inning

PITTSBURGH – Byron Buxton knew it was a foul ball. Most people in the announced crowd of 24,463 watching the first inning Sunday knew it was a foul ball.

Fortunately for the Twins, plate umpire Ryan Wills and the umpiring crew at PNC Park thought differently.

With two runners on and two out, Buxton checked his swing on an inside fastball from Pirates starter Jared Jones. The pitch tipped the barrel of Buxton’s bat, deflected off the mitt of catcher Henry Davis and caromed to the backstop. But Wills ruled it didn’t hit the bat, making it a passed ball that enabled Max Kepler to score the Twins’ third run of the inning. The play was not reviewable, and the call stood after the four umpires conferred for a minute.

“The catcher was like, ‘You foul tipped it?’” said Buxton, replaying the conversation in the clubhouse by looking away. “I was like, I ain’t even see you talking to me, brother.”

Davis told reporters after the Twins’ 11-5, 10-inning victory that the missed call wasn’t the deciding play, noting his catching mitt screened Wills’ view, and the Pirates had opportunities to make up for it.

“The frustrating part is we can get that right if that’s a reviewable play,” Davis said.

After Chris Paddack pitches against Colorado on Monday, the Twins are pushing their entire rotation back by one day because they are in a 13-game stretch with no off days. They are expected to call up a starter to pitch Tuesday before Pablo López’s scheduled start Wednesday.

Louie Varland and Caleb Boushley are the two starting pitchers on the 40-man roster at Class AAA. Varland would be on normal four days rest for Tuesday. He owns a 5.31 ERA in eight minor league starts, though he is notably throwing his changeup far more than he did in the majors, and he has totaled 44 strikeouts and 14 walks in 40⅔ innings.

Carlos Santana became the seventh Twins player to bat leadoff this season, and it was his first time hitting atop a lineup since Sept. 9, 2018. He went 1-for-5 with a two-run double in the 10th inning, and a walk.

“I mean, I’m confident, but a little bit surprised when I saw the lineup last night,” he said. “For me, I don’t have any problem. Every spot when the team needs me, I can do it. I’ve done it before.”

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Twins manager Rocco Baldelli has written 60 lineups in 65 games — the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals are the only AL teams that repeated a batting order more than five times this year — and has used Santana, Buxton, Edouard Julien, Manuel Margot, Alex Kirilloff, Ryan Jeffers and Trevor Larnach as his leadoff batters.

“I don’t really get thrown off by putting different guys in that spot; that doesn’t bother me one bit,” Baldelli said. “Of the 24 years of professional baseball I’ve had, I’ve only seen a few guys that are that traditional leadoff hitter that everyone would look at and go, ‘Man, what a great leadoff hitter that guy would be.’ I’ve only seen a few guys that actually fit, or had those kinds of guys on the club I’ve been a part of. You have to get creative and be open-minded as far as who is going to hit up there.”

Michael Helman and Yunior Severino both had three hits, including a homer apiece, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the Syracuse Mets in a 7-4 loss at CHS Field. The Saints left 13 men on base.