SAN FRANCISCO – The diamond looked perfect.
The baselines clean, the chalk lines behind home plate untouched. No cleat marks in the infield dirt. Fans were settling into their seats. Sun was setting on The Bay. When the umpiring crew at Oracle Park trotted out to the field Monday night before the Giants hosted the San Diego Padres, everything seemed normal.
Giants reliever Tyler Rogers ran out of the home dugout to present the lineup card. Things were still normal for the umps at this point. Then Padres reliever Taylor Rogers ran out of the visiting dugout to present the Padres lineup card and the whole dynamic of the mundane situation changed.
Taylor was born 30 seconds before Tyler on Dec. 17, 1990, as the elder statesman gleefully attested Monday night.
“I was born first,” Taylor said. “Also better-looking and smarter.”
But the younger twin got to go first on Monday night.
“He beat me out there – which, I thought that was etiquette – like, the home team gets there first,” Taylor said with a smile. “So the umpires were kinda talking to him. But then when I got out there, I think it was the third-base umpire who kinda gave me the, ‘Whoa.’ I think I kinda shocked him.”
Blue had no idea he was in the middle of a historic pre-game lineup card exchange.
The Rogers brothers are the 10th set of identical twins to appear in MLB history. On Monday night, they became the fifth pair of identical twins to play in the same game — and first since Jose and Ozzie Canseco accomplished the feat in 1990 with the A’s — as Taylor got the save and Tyler got the loss in a 4-2 Padres victory.
They’re both in the box score, but the night’s most memorable moment took place before the game.
“We went over some of the ground rules of baseball,” Taylor said dryly. “He said if it’s inside the white line, it’s a fair ball, if it’s outside the white line it’s a foul ball. … I said to the home plate umpire, ‘If he starts chirping at ya, don’t be afraid to ring him.’”
About an hour before the game, Taylor got a text from Tyler letting him know about the plan. By the time reporters were in the Giants locker room after the game, Tyler had already left the clubhouse. No, it wasn’t because he was upset about taking the ‘L’ from his brother’s team, as he gave up a run in the seventh inning. Tyler was headed to the airport to catch a red-eye to Indiana as his wife, Jennifer, is about to deliver their first child.
Monday’s moment was all made possible by a trade last Thursday, on Opening Day’s Eve, when the Padres acquired Taylor via trade from the Minnesota ... wait for it ... Twins.
So, the Rogers family is in the middle of quite the week.
Tyler told reporters he picked up Taylor on the way to the ballpark Monday and they arrived together. They probably had flashbacks to their time at Chatfield high school in Littleton, Colorado.
“I got in here and needed to take a couple minutes and collect all the emotions,” Taylor said. “Even just outside of the game, coming over here four days ago, he’s on a red-eye to have his first kid. Needed a chance to collect everything. I don’t even know if I even have the words yet. Really, really cool. I wanted to thank (Padres manager) Bob Melvin and (Giants manager) Gabe Kapler for letting us do the lineup card. That was a special moment. Got some good pictures from that, too. Just, I’m so blessed. I can’t believe it’s really happening. It’s really cool.”
You can’t blame the umps for getting confused. Melvin joked about the Rogers’ likeness before the game.
“Just saw that minute ago,” Melvin said. “That’s real twins. You probably put them in the same uniform and couldn’t tell ‘em apart.”
The southpaw Taylor has paid immediate dividends for 4-1 San Diego, with three saves in five games to begin the year. Monday’s save was undeniably special, as Taylor got to keep the game ball from the final out as a memento of the family’s momentous occasion.
The submarining righty Tyler is a part of Kapler’s four-man closer-by-committee but he appeared in the seventh inning Monday night. He mishandled a Manny Machado chopper while considering a throw to second base for a double play, but instead had to settle for an out at first when he could have thrown home. In the process, Ha-Seong Kim scored the game-winning run from third.
“We can shine the light on a special day for their family,” Kapler said, “and still address our loss and the game, separately.”
Taylor knew Tyler would get the loss if he shut down the Giants in the ninth, which he did despite a harmless single from Brandon Belt.
“I thought about that as I was running out to the mound,” Taylor said. “Like, man, this is putting me in a weird spot. It’s OK. Because of the relationship that we have – I’m not going to go over to him and say, ‘Haha.’ I’m going to go over to him and say, ‘Dude, how freaking cool was that what we just did?’ … I think that’s why it means so much, because of our relationship.”
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Before the game, Taylor asked Padres catcher Austin Nola how to approach the situation, as he struck out against his brother, Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola, last August.
“He gave me some good advice,” Taylor said. “Seeing (Tyler) run into a big-league game was really cool. Just watching him closely. I wish I had a better vocabulary to describe it, but it’s just the coolest thing ever.”
During the game, TV cameras caught the Rogers twins even moving eerily in sync as Tyler was on the mound.
“That’s how twins work,” Taylor said. “It’s called mirror image twins. It’s why I’m 17 and he’s 71.”
Remember, they were born on Dec. 17.
OK, but real question is – who’s got the better stuff?
“It’s apples and oranges,” Taylor said.
A traditional southpaw and a submarining righty. Born 30 seconds apart.
The Rogers parents, Amy and Scott, have to be ecstatic. They’ve got a grandkid on the way and the Giants and Padres are scheduled to play 16 more times after this series, including the final three games of the season. The Rogers twins could have some more high-profile duels to add to their canon of MLB history.
“It’s been a whirlwind,” Taylor said. “We were talking last night, just to be the 10th set of twins ever, we were like, ‘Oh this is the coolest thing, we made history.’ Now we’re doing this? Man, next week’s gonna feel dull.”
