White Sox Keynan Middleton calls Carlos Correa cheater, gets response
Keynan Middleton is not letting 2017 go.
The 29-year-old White Sox reliever showed a little extra emotion when he got Carlos Correa to swing and miss at a 96 mph fastball to record his first save of the season in a 6-4 win over the Twins on Wednesday night.
Middleton, who spent the first five seasons of his big league career battling the Astros in the American League West as a member of the Angels and Mariners, said he knew the former Astros shortstop was due up fourth in the inning, which gave him a little extra juice as he entered the game.
“I knew I was going to face Correa and I don’t like him,” Middleton said. “I liked that. I enjoyed that a lot.”
Reporters in the White Sox clubhouse asked Middleton to clarify: You don't like him?
"Not even a little bit," he said.
Then, Middleton made it clear he was referencing the Astros' 2017 sign-stealing scandal.
"I mean, he’s a cheater," he said.
Before Thursday's season finale, Correa responded.
"I've heard worse," Correa told The Athletic's Dan Hayes. "I'm just glad he is doing good and he's playing good and he can take care of his family. Obviously, he's tough. He's getting better and that's why he's pitching high-leverage situations for them. I'm just glad he's up here again and performing and providing for his family."
Middleton has pitched against the Astros more than any other big-league team, appearing against them 21 times, but he doesn’t have much of a history facing Correa.
The former Astros shortstop is 2-for-4 with two doubles against the reliever. Middleton got him to fly out in 2019, but Correa doubled off him in a game in 2020 and again in 2021. Wednesday night’s faceoff was their first since Correa joined the Twins.
Middleton actually made his big league debut against the 2017 Astros and allowed a ninth-inning run after a double by Carlos Beltran and a single by Brian McCann. Beltran has long been pointed at as the ringleader of the team’s cheating scandal.
Middleton is 8-6 with 14 saves and a 3.94 ERA in his career, which spans seven years and four teams — Angels, Mariners, Diamondbacks and White Sox. For his career, opponents are batting .252 against him with a .760 OPS, but the Astros have done a little better than that, hitting .288 with an .804 OPS against him in 87 plate appearances. No other team has more than 57 plate appearances against him in his career.
Of course, Middleton also now shares a bullpen with Joe Kelly, another outspoken Astros critic.
Correa, who left the Astros in 2022 to play in Minnesota for $35.1 million, is off to a slow start this season. Correa, playing under a six-year, $200 million deal that he signed with the Twins in January, is hitting .206 (21-for-102) with a .650 OPS. He has five doubles, three home runs and 12 RBI in 27 games.
Source: Houston Chronicle
