Twins’ Rocco Baldelli breaks down his decision to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani

LOS ANGELES − It’s not a decision Twins manager Rocco Baldelli contemplated ahead of time, because what are the odds it would be needed?

“It’s one of those very rare instances — they probably only come around every five or 10 years — where you’re actually in that situation,” Baldelli said Wednesday. “Where the best hitter in baseball is coming up to the plate with the tying run on first base.”

Confronted with that decision, Baldelli made an unconventional and risky call. He told home plate umpire Charlie Ramos that he wanted to intentionally walk Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, who had homered in all three games against the Twins.

Yes, it put Mookie Betts, the tying run, in scoring position in a 3-2 game, and the winning run on first base. But with two outs in the ninth, and the Dodgers sending light-hitting outfielder Esteury Ruiz to the plate, Baldelli figured it was worth the risk.

“They had no more moves,” Baldelli said, because Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had used his entire bench already. “It’s pretty simple and straightforward. For me, the right answer was, we’re going to pitch to Ruiz and go get him and we’re going to play to win the game. We’re not going to be afraid.”

Trouble is, reliever Griffin Jax pitched too carefully to Ruiz, fearful of a lucky hit.

“I didn’t want to just put a cookie in there and have him filleting a ball into the outfield,” said Jax, who walked Ruiz on five pitches, loading the bases for Freddie Freeman, who, well, filleted a 1-2 fastball into the outfield to drive in both Betts and Ohtani and win the game 4-3.

“I don’t know if I necessarily agree with that one,” Jax said. “It’s his call but I’d like the ability to face him in that situation. I don’t like the idea of putting the tying run in scoring position right there.”

Baldelli did have support for the move — in the other dugout.

“I mean, it was the right decision,” said Roberts, the Dodgers manager. Ohtani “has five [games with a homer] in a row, which is pretty impressive. You got to take your chances against Esteury. … I wasn’t surprised. It was the right decision. Just didn’t work out.”

That was Baldelli’s postmortem, too.

“Jax is one of the best relievers in baseball so I’m going to bet on Jax to go out there, dial it in and pitch to Ruiz. Ultimately it didn’t play out the way we wanted,” Baldelli said.

Ask any Twins hitter about the team’s approach at the plate, and you’ll hear about the importance they place on discipline, on not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. “We always want to stay with our disciplined approach,” Baldelli said.

There’s a reason for that: Discipline runs in the family.

Matt Borgschulte’s family, anyway. The Twins’ hitting coach is the nephew of Lt. Gen. Michael Borgschulte, one of the top officers in the U.S. Marine Corps.

The general made news this week when he was nominated to serve as the new superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, the first Marine ever to be put in charge in Annapolis.

“It’s a pretty awesome appointment. He’s a great leader, and obviously we’re really proud of him,” Borgschulte said of his uncle, who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and once commanded the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. “I’ve learned a lot about leadership from him. He’s been such a great influence on me, in terms of developing techniques to lead people.”

Righthanded reliever Travis Adams was called up from Class AAA St. Paul to replace Festa. A decision has not yet been made, Baldelli said, about how to fill Festa’s spot in the rotation, though Bailey Ober, scheduled to make a rehab start Friday, is eligible to be activated from the injured list.

⋅ The Twins released catcher Diego Cartaya, whom they had acquired from the Dodgers during the offseason. Cartaya batted .085 in 20 games for St. Paul.