In the minutes leading up to first pitch Wednesday night, a flyover featuring a quartet of F-35 Lightning IIs from the 421st Fighter Squadron based at the Hill Air Force Base in Utah emerged from behind the left-field scoreboard and zipped over Target Field.
Capt. Parker Jax — a younger brother of Twins pitcher Griffin Jax — and his wife Capt. Chandler Jax were among the pilots involved. The flyover completed, Capt. Carson Jax, Parker’s twin, took the mound to throw out a first pitch caught by Griffin.
The Jaxes’ parents were in attendance, in addition to a host of other family members. Griffin Jax, himself a captain in the Air Force Reserve, estimated it’s been a few years since his whole family has been able to get together, so Wednesday’s reunion at Target Field carried some extra significance.
The idea, Griffin believes, came about during spring training when he mentioned it to Twins senior vice president of communications and public affairs Dustin Morse. The original idea was to have it occur before a playoff game, but the Air Force needed a guaranteed date to plan around, so that idea was scrapped.
It was too close to Opening Day — another day that features a flyover — to execute, so they settled on Wednesday’s game as part of the Twins’ Sept. 11 remembrance ceremony.
While the Jax brothers had a grandfather who served in Vietnam for a “couple weeks,” Griffin said there was no other family military experience until he was recruited by the Air Force Academy out of high school. The Jax family lived about an hour north of the academy’s Colorado Springs campus, which helped lead the boys there, as well.
“They’re a lot smarter than I am so they took it a lot more seriously,” Griffin Jax said. “They knew baseball probably wasn’t going to be in their cards for any career so they knew going there that it was going to be a real possibility to fly, and they took advantage of it.”
On Wednesday, it all came together perfectly, making for a memorable day for the Jax family.
“It’s just going to be really special,” Griffin said before the game.
Margot, Vázquez back
You can’t keep Christian Vázquez out of the lineup for too long, manager Rocco Baldelli found out. Vázquez was placed on the paternity list earlier this week after welcoming his third son with his wife, Gaby, on Monday.
Initially, Baldelli said, Vázquez was not planning on taking a day off, but the manager told the catcher he was “not welcome” at the ballpark Monday.
“We know that the moment and the time you spend with those family on those really important days what that’s like, the emotion that’s associated with it,” Baldelli said. “So ultimately, he ended up taking two days, which I’m really glad he did.”
Vázquez was back on the active roster Wednesday, as was outfielder Manuel Margot, who had missed the past 10 games with a right groin strain. Margot participated in live batting practice along with injured teammates Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton and Max Kepler, after which the Twins activated Margot from the injured list.
“He’s another guy, he’s very difficult to keep off the field and keep out of the lineup,” Baldelli said. “There are times where he certainly should not be playing and he’s like, ‘I’m good, just put me out there.’”
The Twins optioned catcher Jair Camargo and utilityman Michael Helman to Triple-A St. Paul to make room on the roster for the duo.
Briefly
The Twins will have Thursday off before returning to the field on Friday to face the Cincinnati Reds. Bailey Ober, Simeon Woods Richardson and David Festa are lined up for that series.
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