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Twins’ Rocco Baldelli requests hair check on Cleveland right-hander James Karinchak

Rocco Baldelli didn’t ask for a check on Cleveland pitcher James Karinchak late Friday because he wanted to. He asked, the Twins manager said, because he felt he had to.

Because he was pretty sure the Guardians reliever was cheating during Cleveland’s 7-6 victory at Target Field.

In the seventh inning of a game that started an hour and 10 minutes late because of rain at Target Field, Baldelli interrupted an at-bat by Luis Arraez to ask home plate umpire to check Karinchak for foreign substances.

“I think I have an obligation to our players and to our team to do what I think is right,” the manager said. “And I believe it would have been hard for me, and as a group as a whole, to watch their pitcher do the things that he does on the mound in a very upfront and straightforward way of trying to, apparently, alter some things.”

A hard-throwing right-hander whose fastball averages 95 mph, per mlb.com’s baseballsavant, Karinchak went through a routine between each of his pitches on Friday, first touching the back of his head, then mixing the sweat with the rosin bag on the mound.

“I knew people were obviously thinking I was cheating, but I had no worries because it was just sweat and rosin,” Karinchak told reporters. “So, come check.”

Barrett did, even running his fingers through the pitcher’s hair. Pitchers are allowed to use sweat and rosin to improve their grip but cannot use a foreign substance, something baseball began clamping down on during the abbreviated COVID season in 2020.

“On the closers. we’ll check the belt and both hands,” Barrett told a pool reporter. “But I hadn’t had a manager request to check their hair this year. I didn’t find anything.”

The check might have rattled Karinchak, who got Arraez to fly out to left before Correa hit a two-run home run to pull the Twins within 7-6. Karinchak’s next pitch sailed toward infielder Jose Miranda’s head, sending the rookie first baseman to the ground. Baldelli said he didn’t think Karinchak was sending a message, but Miranda wasn’t so sure.

“I don’t know,” the rookie said. “It was tough when Correa hits a homer and the next pitch is at my head. It was weird. Maybe he didn’t want to throw it there; maybe he wanted it. I don’t know. Only he knows.”

Miranda doubled to the left field corner but was stranded at second when Karinchak got Nick Gordon to pop out to left. Emmanuel Clase closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his American League-leading 32nd save.

Karinchak, 26, started the night with a 1-0 record and 1.01 earned-run average in 25 appearances this season. Last June, White Sox color broadcaster Steve Stone noted during a game that Karinchak appeared to be wiping his thumb on a black blotch inside his glove.

“I don’t think I had much of a choice but to go out there and ask for him to be looked at,” Baldelli said. “I don’t plan to be going out there and asking (for checks) on pitchers; that’s not part of what we do. I don’t think that’s something we’re going to see (more of) with the Twins. In this instance, I don’t think there was a choice.”

Asked if he was satisfied with the answer he got from Barrett, Baldelli took a long pause before answering.

“Ted is going to do a very good and honest job out there in his duties, and I know that. I have to clearly trust that he’s going to,” he said. “We asked him to do a check, so he went out there and did that. He didn’t deem what he found to be significant, or even present. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t find any noticeable substances or stickiness in any of his hair or anything that he checked.”

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