Minnesota Twins at Tampa Bay Rays

· Major League Baseball

Minnesota Twins

75-64, 36-34 Away

Final
4 - 9

Tampa Bay Rays

69-70, 37-37 Home

Díaz hits a 2-run homer to complete an 8-run 4th inning and the Rays beat the Twins 9-4

All eight runs were scored off Louie Varland (0-6), who was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul to follow opener Ronny Henríquez. Taylor Walls had a two-run single and José Caballero had an RBI single in the inning. The Rays also scored on a pair of fielder's choice grounders with the infield in and an errant pickoff throw by Varland.

“A lot happened,” Varland said. “It's how it goes, I guess?"

Walls picked up his third RBI of the game on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly.

Tampa Bay started play six games behind Kansas City for the final AL wild card.

“We want to fight for a wild card,” Rays’ Thursday starter Taj Bradley said. “We’ve got some stuff to do, some work to do. These games just feel more important.”

Carlos Santana hit his 20th homer during a four-run seventh for the Twins, who still hold the second AL wild card despite going 5-11 since Aug. 18.

"Over 16 games, you're going to have stretches where you don't play your best," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It's how you handled it.”

Minnesota's Kyle Farmer also had a solo homer in the seventh off Tyler Alexander (6-4).

Baldelli, a one-time coach for Rays manager Kevin Cash, used an opener for the second time this season against the team that started it. Henríquez gave up one hit in a scoreless inning.

Baldelli said before the game that the move was “just to mess around” with Cash.

Minnesota third baseman Royce Lewis made his first career start and second appearance at second base as the Twins look to increase infield flexibility.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Twins: CF Byron Buxton (right hip inflammation) was ejected after striking out in the third inning for Triple-A St. Paul in his second rehab game. Baldelli said the team is evaluating Buxton's status. ... OF Max Kepler (left knee soreness) missed his third straight game. No timetable for a return has been announced.

Bradley (6-9, 4.35 ERA) will face Twins Pablo López (13-8, 4.05 ERA). After an eight-game stretch where Bradley went 5-0 and allowed two runs or fewer in each start, the right-hander is 0-5 with a 9.85 ERA over his last six outings.

“There’s a lot of factors,” Cash said. “There’s nothing that is sitting there telling us that his command, his location or his stuff is any different than what it was when he was the best pitcher in baseball for two months.”

How can I watch Minnesota Twins vs. Tampa Bay Rays?

TV Channel: Twins at Rays 2022 MLB Baseball, is broadcasted on MLB.TV.
Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo.

Matchup Prediction

Rays: 40.7%

Twins: 59.3%

*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Scoring Summary

	9th Inning	Wallner struck out swinging.
	9th Inning	Santana to second on fielder's indifference.
	9th Inning	Helman struck out looking.
	9th Inning	Santana walked.
	9th Inning	Vázquez grounded out to shortstop.
	9th Inning	Lovelady relieved Bigge

Statistics

MIN		TB
1	Games Played	1
1	Team Games Played	1
0	Hit By Pitch	0
8	Ground Balls	16
10	Strikeouts	5
4	Runs Batted In	8
0	Sacrifice Hit	0
11	Hits	9
0	Stolen Bases	0
2	Walks	3
0	Catcher Interference	0
4	Runs	9
1	Ground Into Double Play	1
0	Sacrifice Flies	1
37	At Bats	33
2	Home Runs	1
0	Grand Slam Home Runs	0
16	Runners Left On Base	14
0	Triples	0
0	Game Winning RBIs	0
0	Intentional Walks	0
3	Doubles	2
19	Fly Balls	13
0	Caught Stealing	0
138	Pitches	131
0	Games Started	0
1	Pinch At Bats	0
0	Pinch Hits	0
0.0	Player Rating	0.0
1	Is Qualified	1
0	Is Qualified In Steals	0
20	Total Bases	14
39	Plate Appearances	37
324.0	Projected Home Runs	162.0
5	Extra Base Hits	3
6.2	Runs Created	4.5
.297	Batting Average	.273
.000	Pinch Hit Average	.000
.541	Slugging Percentage	.424
.297	Secondary Average	.242
.333	On Base Percentage	.324
.874	OBP Pct + SLG Pct	.749
0.4	Ground To Fly Ball Ratio	1.2
6.2	Runs Created Per 27 Outs	4.7
39.0	Batter Rating	50.0
18.5	At Bats Per Home Run	33.0
0.00	Stolen Base Percentage	0.00
3.54	Pitches Per Plate Appearance	3.54
.243	Isolated Power	.152
0.20	Walk To Strikeout Ratio	0.60
.051	Walks Per Plate Appearance	.081
.000	Secondary Average Minus Batting Average	-.030
8.0	Runs Produced	17.0
1.0	Runs Ratio	0.9
0.6	Patience Ratio	0.5
0.4	Balls In Play Average	0.3
89.5	MLB Rating	92.8
0.0	Offensive Wins Above Replacement	0.0
0.0	Wins Above Replacement	0.0