Jeremy Hellickson made a strong debut, throwing two scoreless innings in the Rays 5-3 loss against the Minnesota Twins in Sunday's home opener at Charlotte Sports Park. The games momentum swung back and forth but in the end, the Twins long balls put the Rays in the loss column for the second straight game.The Twins took the first lead of the game in the top of the third inning. Trevor Plouffe struck an RBI single to right, scoring Alexi Casilla to give the Twins a 1-0 lead.
The Rays bounced back to tie the game in the home half of the third. Matt Joyce drove home Sean Rodriguez with an RBI single to center to even the game at 1-1.
The Rays took their first lead of the afternoon on a solo home run by Jeff Salazar, putting the Rays in front 2-1.
The lead held until the top of the sixth when Chris Parmelee went deep on Burke Badenhop, giving the Twins a 3-2 advantage.
The Rays pushed across their third and final run of the afternoon in the seventh inning. Robinson Chirinos singled home Jesus Feliciano to tie the game 3-3.
The Twins blasted another two run homer in the ninth, this time it was Josh Lueke surrendering the long ball to JR Towles. The Rays could not mount a comeback as they suffered back to back losses to start the spring.
Josh Lueke suffered the loss in his Rays debut.
Notable Performances
- Robinson Chirinos was 1 for 1 with an RBI.
- Jeremy Hellickson pitched 2 scoreless innings allowing just one hit.
- JP Howell pitched a no-hit inning with a strikeout.
- Joel Peralta pitched a scoreless inning.
- Sean Rodriguez was 2 for 2 with a run scored.
- Jeff Salazar had a solo home run.
- Romulo Sanchez struck out 4 in 2 scoreless innings.
A Look Ahead: The Rays (0-2) host the Baltimore Orioles split-squad on Monday at Charlotte Sports Park. Wade Davis is scheduled to make his first start of the spring with Alex Cobb, Bryan Augenstein, Cesar Ramos, Matt Bush and Matt Torra expected to follow. Alfredo Simon is the probable starter for Baltimore. Monday's game is the first of three discounted game days at Charlotte Sports Park with ticket prices $2 lower then normal.
I've always said Romulo Sanchez was this year's splash signing.
ReplyDeleteI'll be there!!!!! First time in Charlotte. Go Rays!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow come when you pull up Sanchez's stats it only gives offensive stats and no career pitching numbers?
ReplyDeleteWhere? If you click on the Rays Depth Chart tab at the top and find him under the Durham Bulls, that link pulls up his bbref page with pitching numbers (and batting below that).
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