The Twins and their unfounded whining

The Twins clobbered the Baltimore Orioles yesterday by a score of 7-0, winning the series, all while maintaining a 100% clean series for their starting pitchers, who allowed 0 runs over the three game set. As you can imagine, the Twins have one overwhelming emotion. Joy,

No wait, sorry, they’re pissed.

Berrios pitched a gem yesterday afternoon, taking a 1 hitter into the 9th inning. The Orioles’ rookie Chance Sisco was at the plate, facing a defensive shift. Not unlike Eddie Rosario earlier in the game, Sisco dropped down a bunt towards the unoccupied 3^rd base, and collected his team’s second hit of the game. What. A. Travesty.

That’s what Brian Dozier and Jose Berrios think, anyways. Here are some Rhett Bollinger tweets to reflect that sentiment

Twins were not thrilled with Chance Sisco bunting for a hit in 9th with Berrios working on a one-hitter with a 6-run lead.

Dozier: “Obviously, we’re not a fan of it. He’s a young kid. I could’ve said something at 2nd base but they have tremendous veteran leadership over there."

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) April 1, 2018

Jose Berrios on Chance Sisco's bunt in the ninth: “I don’t care if he’s bunting. I just know it’s not good for baseball in that situation. That’s it.”

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) April 1, 2018

My first thought is one echoed by friend of the program Anthony Dunkel – “working on a 1 hitter” is not a thing. Second, if the problem then is trying to bunt to get on versus the shift, then talk to Eddie Rosario who did the very same thing a few innings earlier.

But if this is about the fact that the Orioles had the audacity to bunt to break up something that Berrios and Dozier apparently value, then that doesn’t really hold water either. The Twins were giving him half the field, shifting to the right side of the infield, and he bunted it over to the third base side. That’s just good hitting, frankly.

I wonder if this has something to do with Dozier, and how he came up in the league. Dozier is a player who has been defended against for years by teams using a similar shift to that which was employed by the Twins against Sisco (though Sisco is a lefty while Dozier is a righty). Dozier resisted trying to hit the other way to take advantage of the shift, instead trying even harder to smoke bombs over the left field fence, to the detriment of his batting average, but the advantage of his slugging percentage. Maybe Dozier is just irritated that Sisco showed that the strategy he resisted might actually work.

Sisco bunted away from the shift, making sure that he wouldn’t hit it right at all the defenders, because all the defenders gave him half the field. The game wasn’t over yet, and the Twins are basically upset that the Orioles knew that and Minnesota didn’t, I guess.