Houston rarity: Minute Maid roof stays open for Game 2 against Twins

HOUSTON – Dusty Baker didn't sound pleased. Major League Baseball decided that the retractable roof would be open for Sunday night's Game 2 of the American League Division Series, defying the Astros' preference for an indoor game.

"It plays differently. The wind comes in and bounces off of this and goes back out to that, similar to … Milwaukee with the [outfield] panels open, or even Arizona," the Astros manager said. "Anytime there's a circular building, that's creating kind of a wind tunnel. Flags might be going this way, and wind is actually going that way."

Aaron Boone would agree. The Yankees manager complained during the AL Championship Series last October that an Aaron Judge fly ball that was caught on the warning track would have been a home run with the roof closed.

The Astros, who make the call when to open the roof during the regular season, played only one home game in 2023 in the open air, an April game against Detroit. The team announced last week that the roof would remain closed for Games 1 and 2. But the decision is up to the commissioner's office in the postseason, and with first-pitch temperatures forecast for 70 degrees, the Astros' preference was overruled.

In addition to atmospheric considerations, playing in the open air means that noise is more diffused and not amplified by the roof, a condition familiar to Twins fans who attended games in the Metrodome. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli pointed to that as a potential factor that could be a minor benefit to his team.

"The crowd's been a part of the game each and every night" during the playoffs so far, Baldelli said. "I'm not challenging anyone, I swear, by making this statement. Our two games at home, I thought, were louder than the game [Saturday] night, and we were playing indoors. … There's a chance the crowd noise can certainly play into specific points of the game, but I'm not concerned about whether or not the dome will be open or closed."

Speaking of weather conditions, forecasts for Tuesday and Wednesday in Minneapolis, where Games 3 and 4 will be played at Target Field, call for highs in the mid-50s, with temperatures dipping into the 40s at night.

That, the Twins say, could definitely be to their advantage.

"We love to play in the cold," said infielder Jorge Polanco. "It's going to be maybe a little different for them."

Added outfielder Max Kepler, "I wish it was maybe in the sub-50s. I like playing in that weather. It's refreshing. Playing outdoors is always where we want to be."

Game 3 is scheduled to start at 3:07 p.m. Tuesday. Game 4, if necessary, is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, but if the Rangers finish off a sweep of the Orioles on Tuesday night — in a game that likely won't end until around 10 p.m. — the Twins-Astros could be switched to the nighttime slot of 6:07 p.m. for Fox's broadcast.

LaTroy Hawkins kept looking at his phone, checking the score. His godson, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, was playing in Minneapolis, where he had planned to watch.

But the Twins making the playoffs changed those plans.

"Somebody told me, 'It's still baseball season, LaTroy, it's still baseball season,' " the former Twins reliever said. "I need to be here."

The team's management asked Hawkins to remain with the team throughout the postseason in an undefined role, part sounding board, part advice-giver. He hangs around the clubhouse, watches throwing sessions in the bullpen and generally tries to share some of his experience with the team's less experienced players, particularly the relievers.

"I talk to [Emilio] Pagán, talk to [Jhoan] Duran, some of the other guys in the bullpen," said Hawkins, a big leaguer for 21 seasons with 11 teams and a postseason participant in five years. "I'm a jack of all trades, whatever the team needs."

Hawkins spent spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., and much of the summer around Target Field, so it's a role he's familiar with. "He's such a storehouse of information, and he's good at imparting it to the players," Baldelli said.

For instance? "This is a great mound to pitch from. Something about the backdrop makes you seem higher than a normal mound," said Hawkins, an Astro in 2008 and 2009. "I told them, use that to draw confidence in big moments. It helped me."

Royce Lewis took a full session of ground balls at third base during batting practice and said he feels fine doing so. But he stopped short of saying he is ready to return to the field.

"That's a Rocco decision," Lewis said diplomatically.