CHICAGO — Carlos Correa raised his hands in air as he ran towards first base and did so again once he reached the bag, a show of relief after some tough at the plate luck to begin the season.
Prior to his third-inning single in the Twins’ 6-1 win over the White Sox on Wednesday, Correa was 0-for-18 to start the season despite scalding the ball in many of those at-bats. Even in his first at-bat of the day, Correa struck the ball at 104 miles per hour off the bat to no avail.
He kept coming up empty.
“No frustration, just relief,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do any more. The first swing felt amazing. When I got that one, it was just have fun with the guys.”
And they sure wanted to have fun with him, too.
In the dugout, his teammates teased him, raising their hands up as if to signal for the ball, which teams do when a player records a memorable hit, like his first, and they want to keep it.
“Yeah,” Correa said. “I was expecting that.”
He didn’t have to wait quite as long for his second hit.
In his very next at-bat, Correa hit a double to left. He came around to score on a Byron Buxton double. And now, he said, it’s time to “start rolling.”
“I know Carlos put his arms up to the skies and was pretty excited for the first knock. Truth is, Carlos has had about as quality of at-bats as anyone on our team to this points,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “I was amazed that he hadn’t had a hit yet. It actually didn’t make any sense because of how good he actually has looked.”
Twins wait it out
Pablo López didn’t know what to do with himself as the rain delay stretched on and on before Wednesday’s game, so he did something he never does: he took a nap.
The Twins starter, who had to deal with a rain delay before his first start of the season as well, figured he wasn’t going to hear word about a start time for hours, so he did his best to get some relaxation in, dozing off during the 3:20-minute rain delay that preceded the game. The series finale began at 4:30 p.m. instead of the scheduled 1:10 p.m. start.
“I was going insane,” the Twins’ starter said. “Ironically enough, the time goes slow, but also fast at the same time. Like I didn’t realize by the time we had a game time, I had been there for six hours already.”
Byron Buxton, who hit a home run and double in the game, got in a little rest, too.
“I got some of these towels and I sat in this chair. I covered up and I went to sleep. First time ever because I don’t take naps when we’re playing,” Buxton said. “Had a little extra juice in there from that nap.”
Some players played cards, some listened to music and others watched baseball on the clubhouse televisions. Correa had some other plans.
“Talk a lot of smack. Get ready for the game. Talk some more,” Correa said. “Eat. Hang around. Get ready for the game. Then just go play. It was a long day.”
Briefly
Randy Dobnak cleared waivers and accepted his assignment to Triple-A. Dobnak was designated for assignment on Monday. … Joe Ryan, who gave up one run in five innings in his season debut, will start on Thursday opposed by Astros righty Hunter Brown. … Radio announcer Kris Atteberry called Wednesday’s game alongside Justin Morneau with Cory Provus in Milwaukee for Bob Uecker’s celebration of life event. Provus worked alongside the legendary Brewers announcer before coming to Minnesota. Provus had intended on leaving after the game, but the rain delay made that impossible. With Atteberry on television, Dan Gladden handled the radio broadcast solo.
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