Minnesota Twins’ Mickey Gasper, hotter as a hitter since trip to Class AAA, takes a turn at leadoff

CLEVELAND - When Mickey Gasper was sent down to St. Paul two weeks ago, he was a discouraged and frustrated hitter, only 2-for-18 this season.

He’s a different hitter now.

“Absolutely — a slower heartbeat. More confident. Having fun and not putting so much pressure on myself,” the 29-year-old infielder said. “Just playing baseball.”

Gasper homered twice during his five days with the Class AAA Saints, then collected four hits in his first 10 at-bats when he rejoined the Twins.

How much has manager Rocco Baldelli noticed Gasper’s transformation? When Baldelli decided to give slumping second baseman Edouard Julien a day off Wednesday, he wrote Gasper’s name atop the Twins’ lineup.

“Mickey has a chance to get on base three or four times and get the offense sparked and going,” Baldelli said before Wednesday’s 4-2 loss to the Guardians. “He’s competitive every at-bat. You have to make pitches against him. If you don’t he’s going to find his way on base.”

It didn’t work out that way against Guardians righthander Luis Ortiz. Gasper went 0-for-3 with a strikeout as Ortiz pitched 6⅓ shutout innings, allowing only three hits, and Gasper struck out again against reliever Hunter Gaddis.

But Gasper, who had never before been a leadoff hitter in the majors, said he understood the assignment.

“Be a tough out. Find some way to get on base and let the big dogs behind you do their thing,” Gasper said. “I need to set the tone with a quality at-bat to put the guys behind me in a position to succeed.”

With Matt Wallner out because of a hamstring injury and Julien on a 6-for-41 (.146) skid since April 15, Baldelli said he might try some other unusual players at the top of the lineup, too.

“We’ve got guys out, so we’re going to be inserting different guys in different spots,” the manager said. “You’re going to see some different-looking lineups in the near term, and maybe even the medium term.”

Baldelli successfully used a challenge to overturn a call Tuesday in a 2-1 loss, only the second time that’s happened this season. And Baldelli said he was mildly surprised the replay umpire ruled in favor of the Twins.

“It was an important spot, so you have to challenge it there,” Baldelli said. “But you don’t know what the ruling’s going to be.”

That’s because it was a judgment call about whether Guardians first baseman Carlos Santana had control of a ball that wasn’t in his glove. Harrison Bader had hit a dribbler down the third-base line, and pitcher Tanner Bibee picked it up and threw as he spun. The ball glanced off Santana’s glove, but he held it against his body with his arms.

Umpire Malachi Moore called Bader out, and the phone rang seconds later in the Twins’ dugout.

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“That was a Joey Casey special,” Baldelli said of Casey, who monitors the game on the replay equipment in the Twins’ clubhouse. “We could see Santana trying to hold the ball against his body. I don’t know what constitutes possession when it’s being held against your body, but Joey said, ‘Challenge it’ right away.”

“It has to be secure,” Casey said. “If it’s in his glove, that doesn’t matter, but against his body, it has to be secure. And I could see it moving around.”

Jair Camargo scored from third on Ryan Fitzgerald’s bunt in the 11th inning, giving the St. Paul Saints an 8-7 victory over the Clippers in Columbus. Mike Ford hit his fifth home run of the season for the Saints, who rallied from a 4-0 deficit.