The Minnesota Twins won their recent series against the San Francisco Giants 3-0 in Minneapolis.
In Game 2 of the series, Joe Ryan pitched a gem, allowing just one run on two hits and no walks with seven strikeouts while recovering from an illness, and Trevor Larnach went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and a double to lead the Twins to a 2-1 victory on Saturday. However, home plate umpire Adrian Johnson didn’t make it an easy win for Minnesota.
Video proves Twins manager Rocco Baldelli had every right to be furious with umpire Adrian Johnson, who called the worst game of the season
After a strike-two call on Carlos Correa on a pitch from starter Logan Webb that appeared outside the zone, Rocco Baldelli angrily expressed his frustration to Johnson, resulting in Baldelli getting tossed and epically tossing his hat.
“That is now the second-most famous hat toss in this city, to Mary Tyler Moore.”
Rocco Baldelli gave the home plate umpire an earful and tossed his hat 😳 pic.twitter.com/gUcn5wzRDo
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 11, 2025
Baldelli’s annoyance wasn’t solely directed at the poor strike call on Correa; it built up after a series of unfavorable calls against Minnesota’s offense.
He missed 17 calls in the first 5.5 innings and 13 went against the Twins. When Rocco Baldelli complained, he was ejected.
Johnson missed 22 calls in the game and had a season’s worst correct call rate of 83.1%. pic.twitter.com/HzjFwWSrOp
— Umpire Auditor (@UmpireAuditor) May 11, 2025
It’s pretty impressive that the Twins managed to win despite Johnson’s poor game.
A big reason for the bad calls from Johnson can be attributed to Giants catcher Patrick Bailey’s elite ability to frame pitches.
Bailey ranks first in Major League Baseball in catcher framing runs (3) and 10th in strike rate (46.8%). Still, Johnson, who has averaged 93.1% accuracy from behind home plate this year, should have called a better game.
Winning despite Johnson’s badly called game signifies the brand of baseball the Twins have been playing lately. Early in the season, Minnesota struggled mightily to win close games. But now, they seem to be winning close game after close game due to dominant pitching and clutch hitting.
Twins gearing up for rematch with the Baltimore Orioles
The Twins head to Baltimore for a rematch with the Orioles after Minnesota swept them 3-0 last week.
Game 1 of the series is scheduled to start at 5:35 p.m. CST. Baltimore has yet to announce a starting pitcher, and Simeon Woods Richardson is slated to make the start on the mound for Minnesota.
