It’s become almost a running joke through the first weel of the Grapefruit League season, seeing just how long it will take for the Tampa Bay Rays to be able to celebrate their first win of the spring. It would not happen on Thursday.
Jorge Polanco‘s first-inning home run would be all the offense the Minnesota Twins would need, but they would also get a two-run blast by former Rays toip pick Tim Beckham as part of a 7-1 decision at Hammond Stadium.
With Drew Rasmussen making his 2022 spring debut, Byron Buxton led off the bottom of the first with a double, and scored when Polanco blasted his first home run of the spring to right field.
Rasmussen would put up a scoreless second inning, and Andrew Kittredge struck out the side in the third.
Alex Kirilloff extended Minnesota’s lead to 3-0 in the fourth, plating Miguel Sano, who drew a walk from Jalen Beeks to took third on a double by Gary Sanchez, with a sacrifice fly.
Tampa Bay’s only run in the game came in the top of the fifth when Manuel Margot walked to start the inning against Jharel Cotton, moved to second on a balk, and scored on an RBI double by Ryon Healy.
The Twins got the run back in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI single by Luis Arreaz, and Beckham broke the game open with a two-run shot off Jason Adam in the seventh, flipping his bat and staring into the Rays dugout.
Elliot Soto‘s RBI single in the eighth off Jeffrey Springs capped the scoring.
Tampa Bay, now 0-5-2 after the first week of games, returns home to Charlotte Sports Park to take on the Baltimore Orioles on Friday. Left-hander Josh Fleming is scheduled to start against Jordan Lyles, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05.
Steve Carney is the founder and publisher of St. Pete Nine. One of the people most associated with baseball coverage in Tampa Bay, he spent 13 seasons covering the Rays for flagship radio station WDAE, first as producer of Rays Radio broadcasts, then as beat reporter beginning in 2011. He likes new analytics and aged bourbon, and is the owner of one of the ugliest knuckleballs ever witnessed by baseball scouts.
