Twins demote Miranda to minors day after baserunning blunder
The Minnesota Twins optioned infielder Jose Miranda to Triple-A and reinstated infielder Brooks Lee (back) from the 10-day injured list, the club announced Sunday.
Miranda, who's gone 6-for-36 with a homer and five RBIs over 12 games to start the season, was demoted a day after his baserunning mistake during Saturday's game against the Detroit Tigers.
The 26-year-old slid short of second base and started walking off the field assuming he was out on a force out during the eighth inning with the Twins down by four runs. However, the umpire ruled Tigers second baseman Colt Keith's foot never touched the base. So, Miranda would've been safe but was ultimately tagged out.
"No, (the umpire) didn't yell," Miranda said postgame after the 4-0 loss, according to Aaron Gleeman of The Athletic. "I just didn't know. I slid in, but he had the ball. I thought he would throw to first. But I had no clue. Not until he tagged me."
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli wasn't thrilled with the mental error.
"Jose has to do better on that play," Baldelli said. "The guy on the other side of the field was not on the bag, and Jose didn't make it to the bag on the slide either way. And the umpire was clearly signaling safe. We have to be paying attention, to say the least. We have to be paying attention there and never allow something like that to happen."
The defeat dropped Minnesota to 4-11, which is the second-worst record in baseball.