MINNEAPOLIS — Rocco Baldelli threw his cap, kicked dirt on home plate and pointed to the TV booth. But his anger was directed at someone 1,200 miles away.
The normally unflappable Twins manager unloaded his anger at home plate umpire Marty Foster and crew chief Alan Porter after Foster's judgment — that Gary Sanchez had tagged Whit Merrifield out at home plate, ending the 10th inning and keeping the score tied — was overruled in New York by replay umpires Mark Carlson and Paul Emmel.
Merrifield was ruled safe — scoring the eventual winning run in the Blue Jays' 3-2 victory — Baldelli was ejected, and the Twins settled for a split of the rowdy four-game series.
It was a disappointing finish for the Twins, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit with one run in the eighth inning and one in the ninth, then appeared to cut off the Blue Jays' hopes of taking a 10th-inning lead. But it was an undeniably encouraging homestand for the Twins, who won four of seven games, matched up well with an apparent wild-card team, and upgraded their bullpen.
Merrifield, the extra-inning courtesy runner who began the inning on second base, moved to third on a fly out to center — a close play that the Twins challenged, but couldn't overturn — then tagged up when Cavan Biggio roped a medium-depth fly ball to Tim Beckham, an infielder playing left field. Beckham's throw beat Merrifield to the plate, and Foster called him out. But the Blue Jays challenged, and replay umpires ruled that Sanchez illegally blocked the plate before he had received the ball. Merrifield was awarded home plate, and Baldelli charged out of the dugout, automatically ejected for doing so.
Minnesota collected at least one hit in eight different innings Sunday, but 10 of their 11 hits were singles, and only twice did they manage to cram two hits into the same inning. The Blue Jays had fewer hits, went out 1-2-3 five different times — and walked away with the win.
Chris Archer contributed his best start since June, allowing only four hits and no walks over five innings, and the Twins' bullpen shut out Toronto over the last four. But half of the hits off Archer were doubles, and they both resulted in a run: Bo Bichette's drove in Teoscar Hernandez in the second inning, and Cavan Biggio's put him in position to score on Lourdes Gurriel's single in the third.
