KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Twins could have taken the lead in the third inning of Tuesday's 4-3 loss to the Royals, and that breakthrough run could have changed the outcome.
Twins rue challenge that didn't go their way in 4-3 loss to Kansas City Royals
The Twins lost an early challenge in the 4-3 loss Tuesday at the Kansas City Royals and then couldn't challenge another iffy call later in the game on Max Kepler's ground ball.
April 20, 2022 at 4:45AM
Gary Sanchez hit a leadoff double. And on Ryan Jeffers' single in the next at-bat, Twins third base coach Tommy Watkins waved Sanchez home, only for the umpire to call him out at the plate.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli decided to challenge that, but the replay wasn't clear enough to overturn the call on the field.
"I thought Sanchez was safe. I thought it was a very close play," Baldelli said. "... We know that you have to have conclusive evidence to overturn these calls. And on a lot of those plays, whatever the call is on the field is really what's going to stand unless there's an absolute picture that shows that he's safe. It looked like he beat it, but it doesn't matter. There's nothing you can do about that. We were kind of stuck with whatever the call was."
That ended up hurting even more the next inning, when Max Kepler looked to be safe at first on his ground ball, but the umpire called him out. Baldelli, though, wasn't able to contend that one.
"It feels like that's how things work out when you lose your challenge," Baldelli said.
The Twins (4-7) will take on the Royals (4-5) in the second game of three-game series at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday.
High-profile victims in Minnesota include Timberwolf Mike Conley and Twins co-owner Jim Pohlad.
