Rich Hill threw three scoreless innings, but Willians Astudillo’s solo home run off Shane Baz proved to be the only bit of offense allowed on either side Saturday, as the Rays dropped their fourth straight Grapefruit League contest 1-0 in eight innings to the Minnesota Twins.
Hill allowed a first-inning walk to Kyle Garlick, who was promptly erased on a double play, and a third-inning leadoff single to Tzu-Wei Lin, and did not strike out a batter.
As strong as Hill’s performance was, Twins’ starter Randy Dobnak was equally as dominant, allowing just one hit and striking out six in three innings himself.
Chaz Roe and Cody Reed each threw a perfect inning of relief, while Ryan Sherriff allowed a pair of hits, but kept Minnesota off the scoreboard.
Astudillo led off the top of the seventh against Shane Baz and on a full count, got a fastball up in the zone that he was able to drive into the visiting bullpen for his first home run of the Grapefruit League.
Andrew Albers allowed an eighth-inning base hit to Blake Hunt, just the second hit of the afternoon for Tampa Bay, but got Josh Lowe to fly out to end the game.
The Rays head to North Port Sunday to take on the Atlanta Braves, with Drew Strotman getting the start. First pitch is 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.
