Duffey, Baldelli ejected on pitch at Mercedes

MINNEAPOLIS -- Before Tuesday’s game, the Twins were drawn into the periphery of a brewing controversy when White Sox rookie Yermín Mercedes hit a homer off position player Willians Astudillo on a 3-0 pitch with an 11-run lead on Monday night, drawing a public reprimand from Chicago manager Tony La Russa.

Then, the Twins found themselves squarely in the heart of the issue.

Minnesota reliever Tyler Duffey threw a fastball behind Mercedes’ hips on the first pitch of his plate appearance in the seventh inning Tuesday, earning an immediate ejection after the umpires conferred. Manager Rocco Baldelli quickly followed him out of the game after a heated argument with the umpires.

Though Minnesota rode three Miguel Sanó homers to a 5-4 walk-off win over the White Sox, part of the focus turned away from a needed victory amid a largely frustrating start to the season due to the pitch -- whether intentional or not.

After the game, Baldelli denied that the Twins were targeting Mercedes in any way and said he was ejected after expressing his frustration that Duffey had been ejected without a warning.

"We were going out there to pitch him in," Baldelli said. "That’s going to be part of what we do with him. ... That being said, again, we have to live with that. We have to live with the umpires’ decision. There was no issue after that pitch. It’s not like we were going out there and trying to hit him or trying to do that again, in any way.

"They threw [Duffey] out of the game, and we have to live with that, but it doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it."

La Russa agreed after the game that the pitch didn't strike him as intentional.

"It wasn’t obvious to me," La Russa said. "The guy threw a sinker. It didn’t look good. So I wasn’t that suspicious. I’m suspicious if somebody throws at somebody’s head. I don’t have a problem with how the Twins handled that."

No Twins players had publicly taken exception after Mercedes stepped to the plate in the ninth inning of Monday’s game and hit an estimated 429-foot blast off Astudillo, who was inserted for his second mound appearance of the season with Minnesota trailing, 15-4, against their division rivals.

Baldelli said before Tuesday’s game that he was “surprised” Mercedes was swinging in such a situation and acknowledged that he and many of his players were “not happy” in the aftermath of the homer, considering the context. La Russa clarified before Tuesday’s game that Mercedes was not supposed to swing at the pitch.

“He missed a 3-0 [take] sign with that kind of lead,” La Russa said Tuesday. “That's just sportsmanship and respect for the game and respect for your opponent. He made a mistake. So there'll be a consequence that he has to endure here within our family.”

That message reached the Twins’ dugout, which Baldelli acknowledged before Tuesday’s game, but he alluded to the fact that residual emotions might have still lingered within his clubhouse all the same.

“I appreciate that message,” Baldelli said before Tuesday’s game. “I’ll tell you this -- there’s one thing acknowledging it, and that’s appreciated, but it doesn’t quell all of the emotions from all the guys in the clubhouse, in and of itself. That’s just the case of it. That’s how things go in this game.”