During a 13-2 blowout loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night, the Minnesota Twins decided not to waste any more bullpen arms and called on outfielder Jordan Luplow for mop-up duty.
Luplow, who had been claimed off of waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays earlier in the week, wanted to have a little fun with the situation. In an attempt to add some levity, he joked with Phillies third baseman Edmundo Sosa after plunking him in the backside with a 51 MPH pitch. Against the very next batter, outfielder Johan Rojas, Luplow took it a step further.
On a 1-0 count, Luplow hunched forward and hung his right arm to the side. It was a spot-on Craig Kimbrel impersonation that did not go over too well with Phillies fans. Rojas enjoyed it, however, sending the ball deep into the left-field stands for the first home run of his career.
Although Philly fans loudly booed Luplow, Kimbrel found the whole thing amusing.
“They pointed it out to me when I was down there [in the bullpen],” Kimbrel said with a sly smile, via MLB.com. “I think at that point he was just having fun.
“I mean, he was in Philly and he broke it out—I don’t know. I was happy it worked out the way it did.”
Luplow later admitted he was impersonating—not mocking—Kimbrel but had been unaware that it was Rojas’ first-ever homer.
“That was his first one?” Luplow said. “No way. He’s going to tell his kids about me.”
It wasn’t the first home run Luplow has surrendered in his career. Back on Aug. 14, 2021, he came in for mop-up duty as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays and ironically surrendered a dinger to Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers, who is now a teammate.
There was no Kimbrel impersonation that day.
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