Through the first 8 innings, this was a fun game to watch if you opted for staying in tonight to watch a great slate of games and putting off the social schedule for tomorrow. This was a game where all aspects of the Rays were functioning as we would like to see on a nightly basis with great pitching, no self-inflicted damage via walks or errors, and power hitting that felt like one of those warm day games at Steinbrenner Field last season. The 9th inning got interesting when Trevor Martin had a rough start to the 9th inning after a clean 8th necessitating Bryan Baker to come in and clean up the mess forcing the Twins to strand runners at second and third with nobody out for the second time in the contest.
The game for the Rays began with a bang as Junior Caminero sent a Taj Bradley offering 450 feet to dead center
It was not the 474-foot blast that Jonny Gomes hit off Troy Percival back in 2005 (I could not find any video, but found this), but this was an absolute loud bomb that was 111 MPH off the bat with a 26 degree launch angle on a 97.5 MPH heater that was up above the zone.
The next run would come on some of the revitalized small ball by the bottom of the lineup as a Nick Fortes leadoff double down the line was followed by a Taylor Walls sacrifice bunt and an RBI groundout by Chandler Simpson. That early 2-0 lead was quickly threatend in the top of the 4th, but more Drew Rasmussen’s night later.
After the stressful top of the 4th, Jonathan Aranda led off the inning with a long homer down the right field line as all Bradley could do was turn around and reminisce about similar outcomes from yesteryear:
Aranda loved that home run so much, ehd did it again his next time up and took it even further than the first one:
The Rays power explosion was not done as Caminero came back up in the 7th inning after Chandler Simpson earned a questionable walk that really should have been ruled a strikeout as replay showed Simpson did not hold up his check swing. Minnesota pitching coach Pete Maki was quite displeased with the call and got himself ejected as he went out to talk to Bradley as the broadcast put up this fantastic image setting the stage for this:
Bradley came into this contest without allowing a home run through 118 batters faced in 2026, but allowed 4 tonight while facing 29 batters tonight. That last home run was the finale of the Rays offense while the Twins plated both of their runs on solo home runs by Brooke Lee and Royce Lewis. A notable fact — neither team had a hit with a runner in scoring position tonight. The Twins twice had runners on second and third with nobody out – in the 4th and the 9th – and were held scoreless by Rasmussen and Baker in those situations. It was also rather entertaining that each pitcher Minnesota used – Bradley, Eric Orze, and Anthony Banda – were former Rays.
Rasmussen was one yanked fastball away from a flawless night as he executed his pitching plan with precision for 97 of his 98 offerings. Rasmussen, coming into this game, has been heavy with the cutter and his two fastballs throwing them 85% of the time while using his changeup 7.3% of the time and just 22 times overall. Derek Shelton did a solid to Rasmussen putting six lefties in the lineup tonight. Rasmussen used that opportunity to throw 18 changeups tonight -even his first two to right-handed batters this season as he purposely used them against Byron Buxton to give him a different look:
One yanked fastball to Lee lead to the only run Rasmussen allowed while Trevor Martin worked a scoreless inning before getting into the 9th inning trouble that Baker came in to clean up the mess.
The Marketing Department could not have scripted a better plan for tonight. Outstanding starting pitching, supporting defense, and big home runs brought home a win for the hometown boys to start off this series. Tomorrow presents a matchup against a hot Bailey Ober and the wildcard that is Shane McClanahan. It would be great to see some of his command bounce back tomorrow like his velocity rebounded in his last outing.
