Sonny Gray was in trouble. The tying runs were at second and third base on Wednesday, and the Blue Jays' cleanup hitter was at the plate.
But Gray solved the Twins' most dangerous dilemma and preserved the shutout in the quickest way possible: by picking Vladimir Guerrero Jr. off at second base.
And all the credit, Gray said, should go to Carlos Correa — and the crazy-loud Target Field crowd.
"That tells you right there about how a home crowd or a home-field advantage can come into your favor," Gray said. "The crowd was incredible. They were incredible yesterday, they were incredible today from the moment I stepped on the mound [and] they're probably still out there, honestly."
It was Correa who figured out how to use that loud crowd to the Twins' advantage, Gray said. "Carlos comes up [to me] after the first inning and says, 'Hey, listen, listen, listen to me — they can't hear the third-base coach yell 'Back!'" to warn baserunners, Gray recounted. "There's going to be an option to pick. He's like, 'the timing pick is going to be there. It's going to be there.'"
It was, when the Twins needed it the most. Fifth inning, and the Twins' 2-0 lead was in jeopardy. But Correa noticed Guerrero getting a long lead off of second base, and signaled to catcher Ryan Jeffers to put on the play.
"I hear [through the PitchCom speaker in his hat], 'Timing pick, second base,' " Gray said. "And I was like, 'Yeah, we talked about this. Cool.' "
In the bullpen, Caleb Thielbar heard the call in his PitchCom unit, too, as he warmed up, and casually signaled to teammate Emilio Pagán that something was about to happen.
"Caleb knew it was coming. He turned around and his eyes got big," Pagán said. "It worked out. But man, it takes a lot of confidence, and those two guys have it."
They do. Correa waited until Guerrero took his lead, then snuck to second base behind him. Gray spun around and threw a fastball to the shortstop, kneeling in front of the base. And Guerrero suddenly broke back to the base — too late.
Correa had to stretch awkwardly for the throw — "an incredible tag," Gray said — and Guerrero tried to avoid the tag, but he was called out by umpire Dan Iassogna, a ruling upheld by replay when the Blue Jays challenged.
Gray asked Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers in the dugout if he had called for the game-changing play at the critical moment.
"He said 'No, Carlos put that on,' " Gray said. "For him to have the awareness earlier in the game to say, 'hey, this is an option, this is there for us' — and then in a moment like that to have the awareness to relay it to the dugout — that awareness is what makes him special."
