Santander saddled with strike, Kjerstad slugs two home runs

SARASOTA, Fla. – Anthony Santander led off the bottom of the fourth inning today by committing the Orioles’ first rules violation in their exhibition opener.

Santander smiled about it later, in his usual manner, but didn’t agree with the call.

Plate umpire Chad Fairfield ruled that Santander wasn’t ready to hit by the required eight seconds and hung a strike on him. Santander, who had to sprint from right field to the dugout and put on his equipment prior to batting, was down 0-1 before Twins reliever Randy Dobnak threw a pitch.

Welcome to the 2023 major leagues.

The call isn’t reviewable and Santander couldn’t be denied a base, drawing a walk before Heston Kjerstad ran for him.

Kjerstad scored the first of his three runs on the day. He homered in the fifth and seventh innings, in his first two spring at-bats. The Orioles lead 10-5 in the seventh on César Prieto’s two-run single.

The early attention fell upon Santander, for a measly strike and walk.

“Honestly, I did that on purpose,” he said. “I get in there with nine seconds and I’m looking straight into the pitcher, and I told the umpire, next time we might take it to video and see if I was looking at the pitcher or not.

“I’m sure I was looking to the pitcher before the eight seconds. I was watching the clock walking to home plate. Like I said, I did it on purpose.”

Working on timing at the plate used to be about hitting. Now it’s getting there.

“This is a spring training game, so you have to practice, you have to get used to this stuff,” Santander said.

“Make a big adjustment and don’t put that thing in your mind because you’ve got no chance. It’s kind of rush, a little bit different for us, but like I say, we have to use spring training to get used to it and make no excuses when the season starts.”

Santander thought he had a solid strategy.

“When we walk to the plate, we normally look down or look somewhere else,” he said, “so I was doing like, ‘OK, let me time the (walk) to get in the box by nine seconds and look straight to the pitcher. That’s what I did, that’s what I told the umpire. I was looking at the pitcher by eight seconds.”

Santander doesn’t expect the rule to be a problem in future games, and most definitely in the ones that count.

“We will use our time before the first pitch,” he said. “Nobody’s gonna (say), ‘OK, I’m gonna hit with 0-1.’”

Adjusting in the box is easier than during the walk to home plate.

“Especially when you’re leading off,” he said. “When you’re coming from the outfield, you don’t have enough time even to drink water, or you have to make a sprint. You have to put on your shin guards, your elbow guards. It’s tough. But we can’t put that stuff in our mind. You have to play the game and get used to it.”

The first three innings were played in 45 minutes but slowed in the middle as the teams combined for seven runs between the fourth and sixth. Two hours passed before the top of the seventh, when Kala’i Rosario hit a leadoff homer off Chris Vallimont. Kjerstad led off the bottom of the seventh with a shot to left-center field.

Curtis Terry, batting for Adley Rutschman in the fifth, launched a three-run homer to left field off Brock Stewart for a 4-3 lead. Colton Cowser walked and Terrin Vavra doubled before Terry came to the plate.

Kjerstad followed with a home run to left field. And he didn’t cool off in the stifling Sarasota heat.

Cowser walked again in the sixth and Vavra cleared the center field fence for a 7-4 lead.

The pitch clock can only do so much, especially when the teams combined for 13 walks with the game still in the seventh.

Asked whether he likes a quicker pace, Santander smiled and said, “I mean, that’s for fans, that’s not for us. It’s kind of tough for us, you know? But like I say, we can’t put that stuff in our mind.”

Drew Rom retired the side in order in the second inning on 10 pitches, getting the second strikeout of his brief outing. It was a strong finish after a difficult first inning, when the Twins scored a run on two hits and a walk.

Nick Gordon had a leadoff triple and scored on Austin Martin’s sacrifice fly. Trevor Larnach walked, Grayson Greiner doubled with two outs, and Mark Contreras flied out on Rom’s 25^th pitch.

“Just kind of come out, get my feet wet and try to feel out the whole spring training situation,” Rom said. “Just kind of feel out a bunch of the big league hitting and how they’re going to attack my stuff and how I’m going to attack them. For me, it was getting out there, getting some experience in and hopefully just building on it for the next one.”

Rom got comfortable with the pitch clock in Triple-A.

“About as I expected,” Rom said. “Of course, with a big league game it’s going to feel like it speeds up on you a little bit, but honestly for me, I think I felt that my first inning, I kind of let the game get to me rather than take myself to the game.

“It’s really not going to play that much of a factor, especially for guys that have had experience with it. And I think a bunch of the big league guys will kind of just take it in stride after a month or so.

“Some of the older guys were kind of questioning it a little bit. All the younger guys over there, I noticed that they were in the box ready to go. … I think it’s going to be a learning experience for both sides, but for the most part I think everyone’s going to just take it in stride and have to live with it and learn with it.”

Rom is a fast worker. Being on the clock doesn’t rattle him.

“I don’t really like to think too much between pitches,” he said, “so for me it helps.”

Wandisson Charles served up a two-run homer to Contreras in the fourth inning. He kept flirting with the expiration of the pitch clock – 15 seconds with bases empty, 20 with a runner on.

Orioles outfielder Daz Cameron was given a strike for a clock violation in the seventh.

Santander walked in the bottom of the fourth after serving his one-pitch punishment, and Kjerstad scored with two outs on Joey Ortiz’s triple to straightaway center field.

Ryan O’Hearn, trying to win a job as a backup first baseman and corner outfielder, produced the Orioles’ first spring hit with a groundball single into right field in the second inning. No shift to worry about, per the new rules.

Martin had the game’s first stolen base after Eduard Bazardo hit him with a pitch in the third inning. Anthony Bemboom made an excellent throw on a close play.

The bigger bases didn’t help Prieto, who led off the sixth with a single and was thrown out trying to steal. Prieto replaced Coby Mayo at third base.

Matt Wallner fouled a ball off his leg in the third and was granted extra time before getting back in the box. In this instance, the eight seconds aren’t enforced.  

Mayo walked to lead off the bottom of the third and Cedric Mullins singled with one out. They were stranded.

Jackson Holliday, the first overall pick in last year’s draft, replaced Ortiz at shortstop in the sixth, and he doubled in the seventh in his first major league spring training at-bat. The speed was impressive.

Holliday raced home on Prieto's two-run single through a drawn-in infield.

Cole Uvila walked three batters in the sixth and allowed a run.