Neal: It rains bats and dogs for Carson McCusker’s home debut with Twins

The Twins’ romp through May has been punctuated by a 13-game winning streak that has lifted them to second place in the American League Central. But only three of those victories came against a team with a record currently over .500, San Francisco.

So the allure of Monday night’s division encounter with Cleveland was the opportunity for the Twins to sock it to a quality club.

We’ll have to wait a day to see how the Twins respond to this new challenge.

Because it rained bats and dogs at Target Field on Carson McCusker’s home debut.

McCusker might have set a record for the farthest distance traveled by a bat slipping out of a hitter’s hands. It occurred on “Bark at the Park” night, where soggy doggies were treated to two rain delays as a second Twins-Guardians game this season was influenced by weather management decisions that backfired.

The Twins, thanks to an RBI double by Willi Castro in the second, led 2-1 through three innings when the game was called at about 9:10 p.m. — after play resumed for all of 14 minutes after the initial 61-minute delay.

“That game was a belt made out of watches,” Twins television analyst Justin Morneau said as we walked to the elevator after the announcement. “A waist of time.”

Monday’s delayed game will resume at 5:10 p.m. Tuesday. The regularly scheduled game will start about 30 minutes after the first game is concluded.

Fans at Monday’s game will be eligible for a voucher for a future game. Advice: Don’t pick Tuesday’s game. The threat of rain is even worse.

Mother Nature is 2-for-2 against these teams. An April 29 game in Cleveland was delayed 3 hours, 10 minutes as officials worried about a downpour that never came.

On Monday, the Twins were concerned about rain predicted for Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s games. They believed they had a window to get in a rain-shortened game. Rain began falling in the second inning. That window was the size of a peephole.

Though not an official game, McCusker’s home debut was rather eventful. McCusker was called up Sunday after a robust start at Class AAA St. Paul, grounding out during a pinch-hit appearance in Sunday’s loss at Milwaukee.

The 6-8 McCusker, with his parents and six other friends and family members in the stands, was in the starting lineup Monday night. He was in the middle of the action early.

Cleveland took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Kyle Manzardo’s RBI double to right. Angel Martinez was able to score from first base because the ball got past McCusker, playing right field, after it deflected off the wall. Target Field’s right-field wall can be tricky to read. It has a padded surface, an unpadded surface and then Kasota Stone along the top.

“I had some guys helping me out,” McCusker said. “Just giving me some tips before the game to try to figure it out. It can just take some time to know exactly where the bounces are going.”

The Twins tied the score in the bottom of the first on Ty France’s RBI single. McCusker struck out looking in the second, his one plate appearance before the delays. But his swing at a 1-1 pitch from Logan Allen will never be forgotten. His bat slipped out of his hands, sailed over shortstop and landed in left field. Shortstop Gabriel Arias picked up the bat and handed to the Twins bat boy for the relay.

“I just started laughing,” McCusker said. “And I turned to the umpire and said, ‘You ever see a bat go that far?’ He said: ‘No, I haven’t. That’s the furthest I’ve ever seen.’ ”

McCusker, 26, was batting .350 with 10 homers and 36 RBI in 38 games for the Saints when he was called up. He’s known for his eye-popping exit-velocity marks, and the trip his bat went on in the second inning shows how hard he rips at baseballs. After seeing Target Field for the first time a few weeks ago, he enjoyed being able to play in a game for the first time.

“It was awesome,” McCusker said. “The weather obviously wasn’t great, but it was a lot of fun. Good energy. Good atmosphere.”

Hopefully, McCusker will get to experience what the energy is like when fans, and their pets, don’t have to be amphibious to enjoy a game.