The Minnesota Twins flew into St. Pete late Thursday night and will depart shortly. Much like a group of college spring-breakers, they will likely want to forget everything in between (if they remember it at all).
In a move that felt a little like “playing with their food”, Tampa Bay ran old friend Griffin Jax out as an opener today. He pitched a clean 2.1 IP before bulk man Jesse Scholtens took over. The Twins put two baserunners—Ryan Jeffers BB, Kody Clemens 1B—on with zero outs in the second inning, but a Luke Keaschall fly out and a Matt Wallner GIDP extinguished hope for a run before it could really even be cultivated.
Instead, the Rays activated the scoreboard first in B3 when Twins SP Simeon Woods-Richardson threw a Hunter Feduccia bunt attempt wild (resulting in two bases) and then allowed a Chandler Simpson single to put ducks on the pond. Both would fly home on a Jonathan Aranda base knock. Freak-of-strength Yandy Diaz then basically popped a ball up—which carried over the RF fence beyond Wallner’s reach. 4-0 Rays.
The Twins threatened again in T4 by putting two more runners on base, but once again they were LOBster’d by a meek Royce Lewis pop-up out. Tampa nearly increased their lead in B4, but a nice Larnach-to-Jeffers relay cut down the run at the dish.
Nothing much of note transpired in the middle innings of this one, but in T7 the bats finally did some damage: a James Outman double was allowed to trot home on a Brooks Lee home run! 4-2 TB.
Alas, that was the only offense that could be mustered the rest of the way.
Despite cleaning up the defense a bit and the pitching keeping them in the majority of these ballgames, the offense—especially the ability to finish rallies and drive in runs—remains equal parts un-playable and un-watchable at the moment. An Island of Misfit Toys of spare parts, floundering once-thought core pieces, and folks who probably shouldn’t be on the roster to begin with.
Denard Span: Bringing his children into the TV broadcast booth. The Span-Man seems like a legitimately great guy and family man. I enjoy him supplementing Morneau & Perkins on the mic.
SWR continuing to struggle: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
Kirillofffan19 regales us with tales of a Chicago musical tour and more attempts to get now-realtor Alex Kirilloff to sign a jersey
The Minneapolis temperatures drop, which means the Twins are back home hosting the surprisingly-struggling—13-15 coming into today—Seattle Mariners (Mon. night, Tues. night, Wed. afternoon)