When Twins starter Simeon Woods Richardson sat on a podium for his news conference following Tuesday’s 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals, he had a piece of paper in front of him where he wrote all the key plays his teammates made that he wanted to mention.
Manager Rocco Baldelli gave a four-minute response to the first question posed to him as he tried to remember all the moments that stood out. In front of him was a lineup card with stars circled in nearly every spot.
“Under the radar, because there is no one highlight or two highlights that we’re all going to point back to this game about, but this is one of our best games of the season,” Baldelli said.
Almost every inning brought a different hero. Twins closer Jhoan Duran, pitching for the fourth time in the past five days, allowed two consecutive hits to open the top of the ninth inning, putting the tying run at first base. Catcher Christian Vázquez, however, threw out pinch runner Dairon Blanco attempting to steal second base, a strong throw angled toward the right side of second base, and Correa applied the tag in one swift no-look motion.
Duran says it relaxed him, striking out MJ Melendez on the next pitch.
“He’s incredible, you know?” Duran said of Correa’s tag. “For me, he lives on another planet.”
It wasn’t long ago when the Twins offense was at the root of a seven-game losing streak, slow to make in-game adjustments and unable to string together rallies.
With a one-run lead in the eighth inning, Byron Buxton drew a 10-pitch walk after fouling three fastballs and two splitters from reliever Carlos Hernández. Buxton swiped second base, advanced to third on a Willi Castro groundout and scored when Edouard Julien ended a seven-pitch at-bat with a bloop single up the middle.
