CHICAGO -- The Twins beat the White Sox 3-1 on Tuesday night, and just as the post-game media session with winning pitcher Michael Pineda began, Twins players started yelling in the clubhouse.
Mirror image: Taylor Rogers thrilled to watch twin brother Tyler make major league debut
August 28, 2019 at 4:56PM
Tyler Rogers, Taylor Rogers' twin brother, was warming up in the bullpen for his major league debut with the Giants. Tyler, a sidearming righthander, has been knocking on the door the past couple of seasons -- he's a two-time Triple-A All-Star -- but found his path to the majors more difficult than his brother's.
But he was about to come in, and Taylor, with his teammates, were glued to the television.
"The timing was a surprise," said Taylor, the emotions of the moment running through him. "The last couple years he had really good years, so we really just thought that maybe it wasn't gonna happen. He was a free agent after the year, so he said 'I'm just pitching for other teams, and try to get somewhere else, and see if he can get a shot somewhere else.'
"Today was the day. He was the first person I called when I got called up, and he called me today, and he said, 'Tay, you're the first one I'm calling. I'm going up.' That was a pretty special moment."
Tyler, who doesn't throw hard but has been tough on righthanders in the minors, pitched a scoreless eighth. And that made the day even better for the Rogers brothers, because Taylor picked up the save in the win against the White Sox.
The brothers, who are identical twins, pitched in the majors on the same day.
"I'm not gonna lie to you, I was thinking about it out there, if he was gonna go in at the same time as me," Taylor said. "You know how twins operate, a lot of times it's like random stuff comes together, and you're like, 'Wow, only this would happen to the twins.' "
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