Torii Hunter attempts straight steal of home, kills Twins rally
Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City is known for its fountains in the outfield, but clearly the Fountain of Youth is nowhere within its confines.
We know as much, because despite Torii Hunter’s most aggressive efforts to relive his younger, more athletic days during Wednesday’s Twins-Royals tilt, his efforts were met with disappointment and despair.
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With the bases loaded and two outs in the second inning, Hunter thought he might catch Royals pitcher Jeremy Guthrie off guard by charging down the third-base line with an attempted straight steal of home plate.
At the time, the thought process was honestly quite puzzling.
Was Hunter inspired by the Royals aggressive style of play? Perhaps the now 39-year-old outfielder was looking to literally steal a run, as the terminology would imply, for a struggling offense. Perhaps he just thought it was the right thing to do at the time based on what he’d seen from Guthrie on the hill. Or, perhaps, it was in fact an attempt to relive past glory.
As we learned after the game, it was actually entirely strategic based on observations he’d made about Guthrie.
“I said if he doesn’t look at me, I’m going, and he didn’t, so I took off,” Hunter said. “I saw a weak link there with his slow delivery, but he kind of sped it up and short-armed the ball. He threw it in the dirt and it was right there for [Salvador] Perez, who has a Gold Glove. But if he throws it anywhere up I’m safe.”
He even got the nod of approval from manager Paul Moiltor.
“I gave him a little nod and I wasn’t sure if he took me seriously, but he did,” Molitor said. “So it was a weird play. It was obviously a sped-up delivery once Guthrie saw what was going. It was awkward with him not getting his foot down before he released the ball. I wanted to get an explanation on a balk.”
Unfortunately, both should have thought twice, because once Guthrie spotted him out of the corner of his eye, he was able to adjust quickly and get the ball to catcher Salvador Perez, who applied the tag to end the rally.
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And that’s the real issue here. The timing.
Again, it’s a bases loaded situation for Minnesota. Two outs, sure, but a rare chance to break a game open already with a three run lead.
It ended up not being costly in the grand scheme, as the Twins held on to a 3-0 victory behind Mike Pelfrey, who earned his first MLB victory since 2013. But perhaps the next time Hunter finds himself in that position with an itch to steal home, he should run these things through his mind.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
