5:49 AM UTC
SEATTLE — Max Kepler put a literal “flip” in “bat flip” and a literal “trip” in “trip around the bases.” Fortunately for both the Twins and their right fielder, he could laugh about it afterwards.
After Kepler roped a line drive into the right-field corner during the fourth inning of the Twins’ 7-6 loss to the Mariners on Monday, he dropped the bat, as any hitter does — but it turned out he didn’t quite fling it far enough away. It fell at Kepler’s feet, where his legs got tangled up in the lumber, resulting in a big faceplant a few steps out of the box.
Kepler recovered in time to get to his feet, and he saw that Seattle right fielder Jarred Kelenic was still far enough from the ball that he could make the turn around first base and slide into second base for a double.
He did hesitate a bit as he rounded first, though, because he heard someone calling from behind him that he could still make it to second — but he couldn’t tell if it was friend (first-base coach Hank Conger) or foe (Seattle first baseman Ty France).
“I think it was France,” Kepler said. “He could have been setting me up, too. But I went for it.”
And clearly, he found it more funny than he did embarrassing, because he couldn’t hide the smile that broke out across his face as he looked up and toward his teammates in the dugout. Luckily for Kepler, they appeared to be more focused on celebrating the leadoff double than teasing him for the … acrobatic route he took to second base.
There was no hiding for Kepler when the T-Mobile Park crowd saw the replay on the video board and burst out in laughter — but, hey, he was already on second base at that point, and style points don’t count extra in baseball.
And he got a kick out of how it reminded him of a similarly fun moment in Twins history.
“It reminded me of some vintage Ben Revere tumbling on that triple,” Kepler said, a smile creeping across his face.
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