Paul Molitor couldn't watch. FSN's Dick Bremer actually had gotten, "and a trip...." out of his mouth.
The Tigers had a shot at a triple play in the fifth inning but ended up getting just one - after replay.
With Robbie Grossman on second and Tyler Austin on first, Molitor called for a hit and run with the contact intensive Willians Astudillo at the plate. With the runners going, Astudillo hit a liner right at second baseman Dawel Lugo. Uh-oh.
Lugo threw to shortstop Ronny Rodriguez to double up Grossman. Rodriguez threw to first to try to nab Austin but first baseman Niko Goodrum dropped the ball.
Two outs...not really.
"I couple guys in the dugout said we want to check it," Molitor said, "and right when we said we want to check it, the phone rang. So our guys were on top of it. They picked it up right away."
The Twins challenged the call at second and won. Rodriguez was off the bag when he caught the ball. So Grossman was ruled safe. It took 3 minutes, 36 for the replay mavens to rule on the play.
Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire came out of the dugout, and we all thought he was going to get tossed. Although it looked like an admonishment from where I was sitting, I guess Gardy was just getting a clarification on the rule because Grossman had vacated second base after he was called out.
"It kind of goes both ways," Molitor said, "but there is something in there about when a base is abandoned and the out call is made it's going to favor the offensive team, I believe, in replacing the runner on second base. It was a good catch by replay because I was closing my eyes, hoping not to see a triple play, so I missed the play at second."
It ended up being a big play, as the Twins started hitting and scored five runs in the inning - all after the Tigers botched a triple play on two ends.
"We had a triple play that turned into a five-run inning," Gardy said. "That's not good."
