Minneapolis – It had been 328 days since Alan Roden last played in the majors. He battled through two separate injuries and a roster crunch out of spring training. Still, his first game back was all worth it Wednesday night as he delivered the walk-off hit in the Minnesota Twins’ 6-5 victory over the Cleveland Guardians.
“I’d love to continue doing that as many times as possible,” Roden said. “I’d love to contribute to this team as much as I can, and that’s all I try to do.”
“I think any time that you bring someone to the big leagues or bring someone back to the big leagues, and they have a moment like that,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton, reveling in Roden’s moment. “But I think it’s a true testament to what we’ve talked about throughout with our group. It’s not one of one guy. It’s one of 26 or one of 30 when you go down.”
Alan Roden was 2-for-5 in his return with two RBI singles. His first tied the game in the fourth inning when the Twins were down 3-0 after the Guardians tagged two home runs off of Connor Prielipp, who’s also from Wisconsin. Then in the ninth, he battled through a nine-pitch at-bat against Matt Festa to deliver the walk-off hit that bounced off the scoreboard in right-center field.
Roden may not have gotten the opportunity had Cleveland’s bullpen not melted down in the bottom of the seventh after they reclaimed a 5-3 lead.
The meltdown started when Cleveland’s bullpen did the one thing that always haunts pitchers: walk a batter. Guardians relievers Shawn Armstrong and Hunter Gaddis walked five batters to the Twins’ battery, putting the Twins back in the game and tying it at 5-5.
“You’ve got to give our guys credit, because you don’t go outside the zone,” said Shelton. “I think it’s part of what makes our hitting group a really good group and a group that’s leading the American League in runs scored. Because we can score in different ways.”
The walks haunted the Guardians the rest of the game, allowing Roden to play the hero, which he seems to be making a habit of. Minnesota’s ninth-inning battery ended up with the bases loaded. Royce Lewis reached on a fielder’s choice, Alex Jackson singled, and, most haunting of all, Luke Keaschall walked.
That’s when Roden started doing some calculations in his head, knowing that he might get another opportunity at the plate.
“Every baseball player does what I might call baseball math and think through the scenarios in which it might be your turn to give it a shot,” Roden said. “Especially when I got up with a base open and Keasch up, I was like ‘OK, I have a shot here.’ I was ready and glad I could come through.”
“Yeah, it’s an amazing moment,” said Prielipp. “I couldn’t be more happy for him. This team just loves to show up to the ballpark every day, and you can see it by the way we play.”
In his first game back with Triple-A St. Paul off the injured list on June 16, Roden went 3-for-4 with four RBI and fell a triple short of the cycle in their 21-2 win over Omaha. As cool as that was, a walk-off hit for his first game back in the majors was much more significant.
If it weren’t for the right shoulder contusion that had Roden go on the IL back on April 24, his opportunity to be in the majors could have come much earlier this season. However easy it might have been for Roden to get in his own head while he was on the IL, he kept his feet planted where they were, and it all paid off with his first walk-off hit in the majors.
“I mean, it’s natural to maybe go through some of those scenarios in your head and some of those what-ifs,” Roden said. “I would say, for the most part, I was able to get myself away from that and not be too low on myself. I think I was able to handle that pretty well.”
How much did the walks haunt?
The Twins drew three of their eight walks Wednesday night with the bases loaded, which was the first time since April 3, 2017, against the Kansas City Royals. The three RBI walks on Wednesday came courtesy of Royce Lewis in the fourth and Brooks Lee and Kody Clemens in the seventh.
The last time the Guardians were on the receiving end of three RBI walks in a game was July 31, 1998, at the Oakland Coliseum. Bartolo Colon, Ron Villone, and Mark Whiten combined to allow four walks in Cleveland’s 11-6 loss to the Athletics.
