San Francisco Chronicle

Rogers twins enjoy earlier reunion

- By John Shea John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicle’s national baseball writer. Email: jshea@ sfchronicl­e.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHe­y

The Rogers brothers were looking forward to a reunion in late August when the Giants play in Minneapoli­s, but that was canceled.

“The reunion was moved up a few months,” Giants reliever Tyler Rogers said Monday afternoon.

The change of plans came after Rogers’ identical twin brother, Taylor, was traded from the Twins to the Padres — and the National League West — on Thursday. Four days later, they were chatting behind the batting cage at Oracle Park, on the same field together for the first time since they were teammates at Chatfield Senior High School in Littleton, Col.

“It’s definitely pretty cool and pretty special,” Rogers the Giant said. “We were both pretty jazzed up about it.”

The brothers delivered the lineup cards to umpires at home plate before the game, but the reunion won’t last through the three-game series. Tyler was to go on paternity leave after Monday’s opener to be with his wife, Jennifer, who will give birth Tuesday to the couple’s first child.

The extended Rogers family will be in attendance at a future series when more opportunit­ies for the brothers will arise. It has always been tough to tell them apart, at least until they get on the mound — Taylor is a hardthrowi­ng lefty, and Tyler is a submarine-style righty.

On the other hand, they’re quite similar.

“When you break it down, we’re really not that much different,” Tyler Rogers said. “Both sinker-slider guys. Both throw a lot of strikes. So really at the core of it, yeah, we pitch different, but I pitch different than everybody. But if you really look at it, we’re very similar pitchers.”

Growing up, the brothers made each other better, according to Rogers the Padre. When each reached the majors, the first call was to the brother.

“I owe him everything,”

Taylor Rogers said. “Every baseball skill I ever had is because of him. We got to play in the yard every day. You had a brother that was way better or way worse than you. We were the same level. I think we pushed each other. It was that iron-sharpens-iron thing.”

As the series opened, only four sets of identical twins had appeared in the same game: Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Eddie and Johnny O’Brien, Bubber and Claude Jonnard, and Joe and Red Shannon.

Flores’ situation: Wilmer Flores, who is dealing with undisclose­d issues, started the first two games at third and made errors in both. Luke Williams started Sunday and Flores was the DH. On Monday, Flores was out of the lineup.

“When we collective­ly believe he is prepared and strong enough emotionall­y to be on the field, we’re going to have him be on the field,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “And when we don’t, just like a player who’s dealing with something physical, it’s the same thing. These things are equally challengin­g when they’re emotional or mental as they are physical.”

Kapler honored: Before the game, Kapler was presented his Manager of the Year award, presented by the Bay Area chapter of the Baseball Writers’ Associatio­n of America, in an on-field ceremony.

 ?? Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle ?? Twin brothers Tyler Rogers of the Giants and Taylor Rogers of the Padres exchange lineup cards before the start of Monday night’s game at Oracle Park. The reunion came earlier than planned after Taylor was traded to San Diego last week.
Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle Twin brothers Tyler Rogers of the Giants and Taylor Rogers of the Padres exchange lineup cards before the start of Monday night’s game at Oracle Park. The reunion came earlier than planned after Taylor was traded to San Diego last week.

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