Decked out in Minnesota’s freshest uniforms, and making his first start at Target Field, Mick Abel struggled through four innings, and the Twins lineup was unable to keep things interesting, as the Rays evened the series with a snoozy 7-1 victory.
Abel labored through his first two innings, allowing a pair of two-out baserunners in the first, then surrendering a leadoff single and a walk to start the second, before hitting the #9 hitter on an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. After a mound visit, Abel plunked
the leadoff hitter to get the Rays on the board, then served up a two-run double to Jonathan Aranda that made it a 3-0 Tampa Bay lead, and helped guarantee that Abel’s pitch count would soar above 50 before he had recorded five outs.
Abel would strand the last two Ray runners, but it wasn’t a particularly confidence-inspiring introduction to the Saturday night game.
Minnesota was able to bounce back in the home second, with Matt Wallner resetting Friday’s tone by leading off with a groundball single; Ryan Jeffers worked a walk in a great at-bat to follow it up. A strikeout of Victor Caratini and another (another) wonderful defensive play by Cedric Mullins stopped all the runners from advancing, but the Twins would get a run across on a two-out Brooks Lee liner to center.
But Abel would never settle down, giving the run back in the third and giving up another two baserunners in the fourth inning. With his pitch count up to 84 (53 strikes), Abel would not return for the fifth inning; instead, it would be Taylor Rogers coming in for middle relief, and making his first appearance as a Twin at Target Field since the 2021 season.
It wasn’t the world’s greatest homecoming — (that was yours! Don’t you remember the wonder of being young?) — Rogers allowed the Rays to add a pair of insurance runs on three hits, pushing the Tampa Bay lead to 6-1 before the game was halfway over.
On the flip side, the Twins were only able to tag Steven Matz for two hits through five, the latest stretch in a streak of mostly uninspiring offensive performances; the team was hitting a combined .217 entering tonight’s game.
Anthony Banda became the first Twins pitcher to post a scoreless line, keeping the Rays off the board in the sixth. Zak Kent would do the same in the seventh, then tried the old “double it and give it to the next guy” trick, except the next guy was him, so he gave up a run in the eighth. (He also apparently broke math by doubling zero and getting one. Somebody call Terrence Howard.)
Minnesota rolled over and died on offense through the middle innings; Luke Keaschall’s one-out, eighth-inning single was the first Twin hit since the second, and one of their only baserunners in the game.
The tiebreaker is set for tomorrow, with a Sunday matinee deciding which team will win the series, as is usually the case in tiebreakers of all kinds.
See you there!
STUDS:
SS Brooks Lee (1-for-3, RBI)
DUDS:
SP Mick Abel (4 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 3 K)
RP Taylor Rogers (IP, 3 H, 2 ER)
RP Zak Kent (2 IP, H, ER, 2 BB)
C Victor Caratini (0-for-4, K)
CF James Outman (0-for-3, 2 K)
