Bob Collins
There was a real mystery involved in yesterday’s Twins-Rays game at Target Field.
Why did manager Paul Molitor bring in his closer, Fernando Rodney, to pitch in the fifth inning?
It was because Rodney had someplace to be .
“To be honest with you it wasn’t about being overly strategic,” Molitor told 1500ESPN. “It wasn’t something that we really talked about before the game, but he needs to be in Miami for an immigration hearing tomorrow morning. He had a flight that he had to catch and all that kind of stuff so we had postponed it a couple of times, trying to get it a time that was more feasible, but it turned out tomorrow was the only day and so [we] got him in the game a little earlier.”
Being accommodating could’ve cost the Twins.
They blew a lead in the ninth; that’s Rodney’s inning, but by then he’d already left for this morning’s meeting with immigration officials.
When he returns after the All Star break, he’ll bring something with him: citizenship.
