Twins' Sergio Romo frustrated by one-game suspension for bench-clearing incident

Francisco Lindor, whose brief but vociferous confrontation with Sergio Romo during Friday's game caused both benches to empty, was the first batter of Saturday night's game, as usual. Romo, though, wasn't in uniform, having been banished for a game by MLB for shouting at Lindor as he ran to first base after flying out, apparently reigniting a verbal dispute that began two weeks earlier at Progressive Field.

The disparity in punishments — both players were fined, but only Romo was suspended — has the Twins reliever exasperated, his manager said.

"I don't want to speak for Sergio, but in general terms, he's frustrated with the situation, and … believes it takes two for any of these types of things to happen," Rocco Baldelli said before Saturday's game. "I don't think he's fully OK and comfortable with … the suspension, but I also don't think he feels like there's much that he can do about it."

He could appeal, but as Baldelli pointed out, "all it's going to do is push things off a little bit." Besides, having pitched on Friday, Romo was less likely to be called upon Saturday, making the suspension less damaging to the team.

Baldelli's hope, he said, is that the punishments will calm the situation. "We don't want it to go any further. We want it to end," he said. "You do not want to see it under any circumstances. We know it's not always possible to avoid disagreements, and they become very emotional at times. But we know these are the kind of things that can get in the way of what we want to accomplish this year."

The dispute has been brewing for a couple of weeks, said Derek Falvey, the Twins president of baseball operations, in part because empty stadiums allow both sides to easily overhear what's being said in the other dugout, or to take offense at shouts or gestures of celebration.

"Sometimes what's seen on television isn't always the entire story as to what's said, the chirping back and forth," Falvey said. "It's a highly competitive environment … and some things just ratchet it up."

Romo, a 13-year veteran who doesn't hide his excitement at recording big outs, has been involved in a handful of shouting matches with opponents this season. Baldelli seemed to allude to that fiery nature after Friday's game, saying of Lindor and Romo, "it's just a couple of players who continually interact with each other when they probably shouldn't. And a lot of the interaction is, some of it's subtle, some of it's not so subtle. If we just all went out there and played the game and tried to ignore what was going on on the other side, we'd be in better shape."

Fighting is explicitly barred in this year's COVID-19 protocols, which probably caused MLB to act swiftly in a situation that never escalated beyond shouting, Falvey said.

"It's disappointing, but we support Serge. We know he's a fiery guy. He's always competitive, he goes out and lets his emotions fly," Falvey said. "The last thing we want is any type of suspension impact. We're in a tight race that's very likely to come down to a couple of games. … We were hopeful that everything would just calm itself down quickly."

Jake Odorizzi isn't listed as Wednesday's starter against the White Sox in Chicago, but it's clear, after an 80-pitch, five-inning simulated start in St. Paul on Friday, he could be given that assignment. But he won't be ready to throw 100 pitches on his first day back from the injured list, where he landed after being hit by an Alex Gordon line drive on Aug. 21 at Kansas City, Falvey said.

The Twins will have six starters upon Odorizzi's return — Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill, Jose Berrios, Randy Dobnak and Michael Pineda are the others — and there's even a chance Homer Bailey, on the injured list because of biceps tendinitis since his debut on July 28, could make an appearance in the season's final two weeks. They are still sorting out how to use that pitching surplus.

"There could be a conversation about some tandem [starts], or piggybacking for a couple of starts," Falvey said. "So hopefully we're going to be lining up some things for a potential playoff roster."

Meanwhile, right fielder Max Kepler (groin) could return in the next day or two, and catcher Mitch Garver (ribs) has made strong progress over the past week, Falvey said. "It turned a corner for [Garver] and he's starting to feel like he can let it go and hit a little bit more," Falvey said. "He also caught a full starter's worth of pitches yesterday."