Rojas hits first big-league HR off outfielder imitating Kimbrel
Rojas hits first big-league HR off outfielder imitating Kimbrel originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, concluding that Friday’s night’s game was already a wrap by the sixth inning, started removing his regulars. But the bottom of the eighth, trailing by nine, he decided to save his bullpen by having outfielder Jordan Luplow pitch a mop-up inning.
The righthander, just trying to throw strikes, got a couple quick outs. And that’s when things took a turn for the weird.
He hit Edmundo Sosa with a pitch. Okay, it happens.
But then, going into his set position, he did a passable imitation of Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel’s distinctive bird-of-prey stance.
That was funny. Then, to top it all off, rookie Johan Rojas drove a not-so-fastball from Luplow into the leftfield seats. And then apologized to the pitcher when he crossed home plate.
Kimbrel said after the 13-2 drubbing that he didn’t see the incident when it happened, but that a teammate pointed it out to him and he watched it on the replay.
“I think at that point he was just having fun,” Kimbrel said. “I don’t know him. He was in Philly. He broke it out. I was happy it worked out the way it did. I think there have been a couple guys do it before. Obviously, it’s usually players coming in in blowouts. Just having fun. No hard feelings.
“I don’t think there was any disrespect. He was just out there pitching. He’s a position player. He was having fun.”
Said Rojas, through translator Diego Ettedgui: “It was a lot of fun because I wasn’t expecting him to do anything like that,” he said. “When I stepped on home plate after rounding the bases, I looked at him and I said, ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to do it.’” Still, hitting his first big league homer was a thrill. “It’s all good, but I never thought it would be off a position player,” he said with a smile. “But, honestly, the most important thing is that we won the game. The bats came to life.”
