Rocco Baldelli threw his hat, kicked dirt at home plate and yelled at a pair of umpires. But his rage was directed at someone 1,200 miles away.
The usually unflappable Twins manager took out his anger on home plate umpire Marty Foster and manager Alan Porter after Foster’s ruling — that Gary Sanchez had tagged out homer Whit Merrifield, ending the 10th inning and keeping the game tied — was overturned in New York by referee Jordan Baker.
His verdict: That Sanchez violated the home plate blocking rule, that he didn’t give Merrifield the slide path he needed. Merrifield was ruled safe — scoring the eventual game-winning run in the Blue Jays’ 3-2 victory — Baldelli was ejected, and the Twins reluctantly, bitterly agreed to split the infamous four-game streak.
“It’s beyond embarrassing for our game, for all the players out there,” Baldelli fumed in a brief, profanity-laced post-match interview. “I think that’s one of the worst times we’ve seen for umpiring in any game I’ve been in baseball. It was unfortunate what just happened.”
Potentially critical too. The Twins’ two-game AL Central lead over Cleveland was cut in half by the loss, with the next trip to Los Angeles, where the Dodgers own the best record in baseball, coming up on Tuesday.
“It’s a game that could have playoff implications at some point. And to take it away from us is tough,” reliever Caleb Thielbar said. “It was pretty fair, huh [Baldelli] I did. He was right as far as I was concerned.”
As far as the Blue Jays were concerned, however, Baker simply dispensed justice.
“I know what the rule is. It’s just a matter of whether it was called or not, and I think they rightfully called it right,” Merrifield said. “I thought it was going to be cancelled. I thought it should be cancelled. Obviously this is an important point in the game and you don’t want it to come down to a rules decision, but the rules are there for a reason. “
The outburst added an air of discontent to the Twins’ frustration at losing a game that appeared headed for a euphoric conclusion. They trailed 2-0 from the third inning on, rallied with a run in the eighth and another in the ninth to tie the score and cheer their raucous crowd, then snuffed out the Blue Jays’ scoring chance in the 10th inning — though and just for a moment – with this dramatic play at the plate.
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