Carlos Correa will get an opportunity to show San Francisco Giants fans what might have been when he and the visiting Minnesota Twins continue a three-game interleague series Saturday afternoon.
The Giants opened the set with a 7-1 triumph Friday night, winning a battle of shortstops when Brett Wisely contributed three hits and two RBIs to the winning effort.
Making his first San Francisco visit since the Giants reportedly backed out of a 13-year, $350 million agreement in December 2022, Correa scored the Twins’ only run after a sixth-inning single.
The 29-year-old had an opportunity to do more damage, but flied out twice in two-on, two-out situations. He finished 1-for-5.
Looking for a potent middle-of-the-order bat, the Giants were seeking to replace veteran Brandon Crawford when they pursued Correa after the 2022 season. With top prospect Marco Luciano still a year or two away, Giants management saw Correa as a shortstop who could move to third base when the youngster was ready.
Instead, 11th-hour uncertainty over medical findings regarding a previous leg injury caused the Giants to cancel their plans, and eventually for the New York Mets to do the same after Correa’s second option had made a reported 12-year, $315 million offer.
So, the 2015 American League Rookie of the Year and 2017 World Series champ with the Houston Astros returned to the Twins, whose offer was for six years and $200 million.
Correa hit a career-low .230 last season, but has rebounded this year to hit .308 with 13 homers and 47 RBIs.
He has insisted there will be no revenge tours scheduled.
“I’m the type of guy that turns the page really easily,” Correa claimed. “It was definitely different; it was very unexpected. But at the same time, it had to happen that way and I’m very happy.”
One of the reasons the Giants have turned the page has been the play of Wisely, considered to be more of a second baseman when he was promoted in May. The three-hit game Friday was his second of a season in which he’s had multiple hits in 15 of 43 games played for a .286 average.
Without Correa, the Giants tried seven different shortstops last season, and this year they’ve used five. But as manager Bob Melvin noted after Friday’s game, he’s less inclined to platoon at the position with the way the left-handed-hitting Wisely has been swinging the bat — .406 with 13 hits in 32 at bats.
“He’s hit left-handed pitching pretty good. It’s one of the reasons we leave him in,” Melvin noted. “You look at his numbers. It’s really good against left-handed pitching.”
Both hot hitters will get a chance to face a rookie in Saturday’s rematch when Twins right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson (3-1, 3.48 ERA) duels Giants righty Hayden Birdsong (1-0, 4.40).
The Twins have won each of Richardson’s past three starts, during which he allowed a total of eight runs in 17 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers and Astros. Minnesota is 11-4 in his starts this season.
The 23-year-old Texas native has never faced the Giants, and in fact has never made a major-league start in California.
Birdsong, 22, will be making his fourth big-league start after having limited the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Guardians to a total of seven runs in 14 1/3 innings in his first three outings.
-Field Level Media