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Twins' Sano: 'Umpires are crazy this year'

Patrick Smith / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Miguel Sano is not having a good year when it comes to umpires, and on Wednesday he had something to say about his recent experiences.

After the Minnesota Twins slugger was called out on strikes Tuesday after checking his swing against the Houston Astros, Sano complained umpires have been acting differently compared to the season prior.

"The umpire is supposed to check, but he never checked," Sano told Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "That’s why they have umpires on both sides. I didn’t swing.

"Last year they checked a lot," Sano added. "I don’t know what’s going to happen with umpires. Umpires are crazy this year."

Perhaps Sano, who got into a heated argument with John Hirschbeck for arguing balls and strikes April 10, is in the bad books of baseball's rules enforcers, but his manger Paul Molitor has a different opinion.

"I think young players are probably not going to get the benefit (on check swings), whether they go down to the corner umpire or not," Molitor explained. "Maybe it looks different from behind on a guy like that. I can’t tell you why, but he doesn’t get many breaks in that regard.

"I still think he got banged on borderline pitches as a young guy, but I think he’s gotten some respect in terms of being able to lay off tough pitches," the skipper continued. "It could change from umpire to umpire too. He has a tendency once in a while to not have the best body language when things don’t go his way."

The 22-year-old Sano sits second in the American League with 39 strikeouts, one behind leader Justin Upton.

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