Twins day at camp: Molitor makes a successful spring challenge

SARASOTA, FLA. – Replay, who needs stinking replay?

Twins manager Paul Molitor popped out of the dugout in the seventh inning Tuesday when umpires ruled that Jimmy Paredes had hit a two-run homer.

Paredes connected off Michael Tonkin, sending the ball down the right-field line. Shane Robinson, a nonroster invite to camp, jumped and reached over the wall to grab the ball, but he hyperextended his left arm when he collided with the wall and the ball popped out.

"I snow-coned it," Robinson said.

Molitor thought the ball was in Robinson's glove, too, so he came out of the dugout to state his case as Robinson made a signal that he brought the ball back into play. The umpires bought Molitor's argument and changed the call from a home run to an RBI triple.

"You really don't want to go out there too much in spring training," Molitor said. "We've had other plays that have warranted at least a word from the manager, but I had passed until this point."

Orioles manager Buck Showalter went onto the field to get an explanation from umpires, then returned to his dugout.

Aside from a Chris Davis opposite-field home run — on a ball he thought was going foul — Twins righthander Phil Hughes was pretty efficient Tuesday. The home run was the only hit off him over four innings to go with one walk and two strikeouts.

Hughes threw 44 pitches, 27 for strikes. Then he went to the bullpen to throw 15 more. He should be up to 100 pitches by the end of camp.

"I won't start worrying about velocity until maybe when I start approaching 100 pitches," Hughes said, "and get to the point where I have to be ready to go."

Glen Perkins threw in the bullpen Tuesday and had no problems with the sore right side that has kept him out of action for nearly two weeks. Perkins will pitch in a minor league spring training game on Thursday. If that goes well, he will return to Grapefruit League action over the weekend.

If the rest of camp goes smoothly, he should get enough appearances to be ready for the regular season.

•Aaron Hicks made a terrific diving catch in left-center in the third, robbing Alejandro De Aza of a hit. "He had to close on that ball late to make that catch," Molitor said.

•Eddie Rosario, a long shot to break camp with the team, made himself noticed again with a triple into the right-field corner in the fourth off Bud Norris. Rosario went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .304.

There will be a couple of things worth monitoring when the Twins play split-squad games at home against Baltimore and down the street at JetBlue Park against Boston.

Righthander Ervin Santana will start against Baltimore, but Molitor will bat Joe Mauer second and Brian Dozier third as he experiments with different lineups.Righthander Mike Pelfrey, in a bid to make the rotation, gets to start against the Red Sox. First pitch in both games is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.