Monday, 4 a.m.
It was a ditto kind of day. So allow the Tampa Bay Rays to say ouch all over again.
For the second straight day, the Rays could barely slow down the Minnesota Twins. The Twins crushed the Rays, 9-3, behind a five-run first and an unheralded pitcher.
In the last two games, the Twins have scored 18 runs and collected 27 hits against the overmatched Rays. The Rays finished with eight hits, but that's
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deceptive. They had two hits in six innings (and no runs) agianst starter Josh Winder, who had never started a game in the majors.
The first seven Twins accounted for five runs on four hits and an error against starter Josh Fleming.
"As of late, things haven’t been coming easy for him,," said Rays' manager Kevin Cash. "We’re going to see him through the course of the season get on runs where he’s super efficient. So far it hasn't played that way."
Cash was encouraging despite Walls' error.
"Wallsy's been sure-handed for us," Cash said. "We want the ball hit to him. That one just sailed on him a little bit. But we’ve got to find ways to limit the damage."
The Rays had six of their eight hits in the seventh and eighth innings.
Tampa Bay now leaves for a long West Coast road trip, starting tonight in Oakland. Drew Rasmussen will start for the Rays against Daulton Jeffries. The game begins at 9:40 p.m.