CHICAGO – The Twins players showed little life at the plate Wednesday night in losing 6-1 to the White Sox. The coaching staff more than made up for it.
Manager Paul Molitor and third base coach Gene Glynn were ejected during a contentious sixth inning at Guaranteed Rate Field. Their efforts, however, had minimal effect on a Twins team that lost for the fifth time in six games and is in danger of being swept in the three-game series with another loss Thursday.
While their offense sputtered again, the Twins contended White Sox starter James Shields committed a balk by not coming to a complete stop in his motion in the fifth inning with Ehire Adrianza on first base. Glynn brought it up with third base umpire and crew chief Gerry Davis, who disagreed.
"I explained to him it was not a balk," Davis told a pool reporter. "He said it was a balk. I explained to him it was not a balk, told him I wasn't sure he knew the definition of what a balk was for a stop."
The debate continued in the sixth after Brian Dozier's single sent Eddie Rosario to third. While White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper visited Shields, Glynn brought up the play again and told Davis what he thought of the call.
"The next half-inning he came out, brought it up again," Davis said. "I told him that was enough. He continued, and I ejected him."
Glynn, who has been thrown out of games three times in his career, didn't like how Davis disagreed with him.
"It was simple," Glynn said. "I respect the umpires 100 percent, all the time. When I asked him about Shields not stopping, he had come back with, I thought, an insulting, sarcastic line to me."
