A day after blowing a six-run lead, tempers flared for the Minnesota Twins thanks to a pitch clock violation that saw manager Rocco Baldelli get ejected from the game.
In the sixth inning, home plate umpire Nic Lentz called a pitch clock violation against Simeon Woods Richardson, which Rocco Baldelli rather emphatically objected to. He left the dugout to argue the call, which ended up putting Jonathan India on base by way of a walk, and didn’t return.
After a lengthy arguement, Baldelli was tossed and eventually made his way to the clubhouse after getting his rant out of his system. From what it looked like in real time, and upon replay, Rocco had a pretty good reason to be upset.
Woods Richardson disengaged with India to seemingly signal to Christian Vazquez that his PitchCom wasn’t working — or at least that’s what it looked like on the broadcast. He then re-engaged with India and was about to pitch when Lentz stood up and waved off the play as a clock violation.
Simeon Woods Richardson signaled he didn’t hear PitchCom at 7 seconds on pitch clock. Didn’t get call, ruled a pitch clock vio, which results in a walk.
Rocco Baldelli gets ejected. Demonstratively tells the ump, “You (messed) up.” Kicks the plate. Throws stuff. #MNTwins
— DanHayesMLB (@DanHayesMLB) April 8, 2025
Twins get screwed by bogus pitch clock violation against Royals
Everyone seemed a little confused, including Vazquez who got uncharacteristically heated with Lentz. Baldelli came out to defend his players, but it was clear that he shared the sentiment Vazquez had given how he almost instantly left the dugout after the pitch clock violation call was made.
Making matters even worse is the fact that it appeared Woods Richardson still had time left on the pitch clock after he started his motion. Twins TV replays showed two seconds on the clock when Woods Richard’s very clear starts to pitch, which is when Lentz waved the play dead.
It wasn’t just the end of Rocco’s night, as Woods Richardson was pulled from the game by Jayce Tingler before action could resume. He finished the night with a career-high 107 pitches after giving up four runs to the Royals, which is a less than ideal way to chase what happened to the team on Sunday afternoon against Houston.
Something that should standout more than the ejection or the objectionable call is the fact that Woods Richardson needed that many pitches to get through just 5.2 innings.
Twins starters are averaging around five innings per start, which has already put incredible pressure on the bullpen. Sunday’s loss was a result of that, and the lack of starting power is going to be something the team needs to figure out sooner rather than later.
No amount of yelling will make up for what the Twins are so sorely lacking out of the gate this season.
