Paul Molitor reached the one-third mark of his first season as Twins manager on Friday night against Milwaukee at Target Field. He was coming off what could have stood as the most questionable move of his first two months on the job, and even that turned into an 8-4 victory for the Twins in Boston on Thursday.
The Twins were tied 4-4 into the ninth. Brian Dozier and Torii Hunter reached to open the inning. With the count 1-1, Molitor gave the bunt sign to Joe Mauer, a tact Mauer had not tried since 2012.
Mauer plopped a horrendous bunt a foot from the plate. Boston catcher Blake Swihart had the ball in his possession before Mauer was able to leave home plate. Dozier was dead at third base, and Mauer would have been doubled at first, but Swihart's throw was low and went through Pablo Sandoval's thick calves.
Dozier scored, and three more runs followed, and the gift-wrapped victory kept the Twins in first place in the American League Central.
The Twins talked in the visitors clubhouse at Fenway of the bunt putting pressure on the opposing "defense." The Red Sox are feeble in that department, but the bunt was not about that at all.
Molitor's decision to order the bunt was based on Mauer's renewed penchant for grounding into double plays. The manager said as much in his postgame session with the media.
Mauer was pulling some pitches and hitting the ball reasonably hard through the early weeks of the season. Lately, he's been hitting the ball as softly as in 2014 — easy-to-catch loopers to left, bouncers to the right side.
The Twins were making up a rainout in Fenway with a split doubleheader Wednesday. Molitor used Mauer as a pinch hitter in the afternoon game and he grounded into his 10th double play of the season.