‘These things happen here’: Minor league park in Tampa presents challenges to Twins

TAMPA, FLA. – Balls hit to left field at George Steinbrenner Field, the temporary home for the Tampa Bay Rays, were an adventure for Twins outfielders.

Trevor Larnach missed two balls at the wall in the eighth inning during Monday’s 7-2 loss, apologizing to pitcher Kody Funderburk afterward. Willi Castro misjudged a ball that dropped for a single in the first inning of Tuesday’s 4-2 Twins win, thinking it was headed foul before it landed on the other side of him.

“It’s kind of weird,” Castro said. “You see the pop-ups really good when they go up, but when they’re coming down, they take weird angles. That one I saw, it was going foul, way foul. All of a sudden, the ball landed behind me. I didn’t know that field does that.”

There were other close calls. Kody Clemens, in right field, made a diving catch in the fourth inning Tuesday on a ball that hooked toward the right field line. Clemens initially thought it would be a routine running catch before the ball darted away from him at the last moment. Carlos Correa had some trouble tracking a pop-up in shallow center field to end the fifth inning.

With no third deck, wind gusts are a bigger factor, like another version of Wrigley Field.

“The wind is there, and there’s no foul [territory],” Twins pitcher Joe Ryan said. “It’s like you’re going to smash into the wall trying to catch the thing. It’s a joke. Doesn’t make sense.”

The low lights present a different challenge, particularly compared to major league stadiums. Manager Rocco Baldelli advised Clemens not to take his eyes off the ball during night games there.

“As someone that hasn’t played tons of outfield, I told him, ‘You don’t take your eye off of the sky. Just keep looking up and the ball will come out at some point,’ ” Baldelli said. “If you look down and then look up, you have no chance of finding that baseball.”

Trevor Amicone, the Twins’ assistant hitting coach, used to work in the Yankees’ minor league system. George Steinbrenner Field is the home for Yankees spring training games and, typically, their Class A affiliate in the Florida State League.

After some of the wacky plays this week, Amicone told Baldelli: “These things happen here.”

It wasn’t just the outfielders who needed to make an adjustment. Ryan and Chris Paddack said the sun was directly in their eyes for the first couple of innings when they pitched during night games and caused them trouble watching the movement on their pitches. The third deck of seats typically blocks the setting sun in major league parks.

“For [righthanded hitters], I guess it was fine because everything’s going glove side and I could get the plate in there,” Ryan said. “I’m like, ‘All right, there’s no hitter in the box.’ Then the lefties, I was blind to those guys. It was pretty tough to figure out.”

Hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field is expected to reopen by next season.

Byron Buxton was one of the few players who took batting practice before Wednesday’s day game in Tampa, a sign he’s progressing through MLB’s concussion protocols.

Buxton, who sustained a brain injury in a collision with Correa on May 15 in Baltimore, is expected to rejoin the Twins’ roster for Friday’s series opener in Seattle.

Carson McCusker, the 6-8 outfielder with incredible power, recorded his first major league hit Wednesday. In the eighth inning, entering as a pinch hitter, he crushed … a blooper that dropped into shallow right field for a single.

“Definitely a lot of relief, a lot of weight off the shoulders,” he said. “It was honestly too hot to even take it all in. I was just trying to stand up straight.”

McCusker, optioned to Class AAA after Wednesday’s game, was hitless in his first five major league at-bats with four strikeouts. Moving to a reserve role in his first stint in the big leagues was an adjustment.

“It’s definitely a learning curve,” McCusker said. “I hadn’t really done it in my career before. Just trying to figure it out, knowing when to get ready in the [batting] cage.”

Matt Wallner served as the designated hitter for the Class AAA St. Paul Saints during his rehab assignment Wednesday and homered for the second straight game in a 5-2 Saints victory over the Storm Chasers in Omaha. He is scheduled to play nine innings in right field Thursday.

Wallner is 7-for-21 with four home runs in his five rehab games with the Saints.

“We hopefully get Buxton and Wallner soon,” Correa said, “and it’s a big boost to our lineup.”

Simeon Woods Richardson gave up five hits and two earned runs and had five strikeouts in six innings.