{"id":60579,"date":"2025-05-28T09:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T09:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/60579\/"},"modified":"2025-05-28T09:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T09:02:14","slug":"twins-4-rays-2-twins-make-key-plays-hop-back-into-the-win-column-twins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/60579\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins 4, Rays 2: Twins Make Key Plays, Hop Back into the Win Column – Twins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBox Score<\/a>
Starting Pitcher: Joe Ryan<\/a> 6 IP, 5H, 1ER, 1BB, 5K (82 pitches, 52 strikes (64%))
Home Runs:\u00a0Kody Clemens<\/a> (5)
Top WPA: Joe Ryan (.232); Carlos Correa<\/a> (.119); Brooks Lee<\/a> (.114)
Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot2025-05-27at9_41_30PM.png.f0d3d3e21a44b6d2c407e043fa63d511.png\"\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Twins dropped the first game of the series versus the Rays 7-2 on Monday, but Tuesday night, they wasted no time getting out in front with Joe Ryan on the mound. Ryan responded with three scoreless innings to open the contest, although he needed some help from his defense along the way\u2014including multiple gems from Carlos Correa.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tTrevor Larnach<\/a> led off today, and punched out his seventh double of the season to start the game, followed by a single from Correa (who has had a hit in nine games out of the 16 he has played in May and is hitting .375 since coming back from his concussion). A sac fly from Brooks Lee scored Larnach to put the Twins on the board 1-0, as good hustle and a great slide got Larnach past the tag in time.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tKody Clemens continues to be a menace. He swatted his fifth home run of the season in the top of the second, to widen the lead to 2-0. Rays pitcher Taj Bradley<\/a> tightened up after that, allowing just the two runs. The next time he allowed a hit was in the top of the fifth (Clemens again), but that was it. No more for the Twins lineup.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tRyan didn’t have a bad day, but he didn’t have an easy day, either. By the time he reached the fourth inning, Ryan was laboring. The Rays got ahead of Ryan in the count a few times, and had a lot of movement on the bases. It was also the fourth time they had someone on third base, and while the defense did their job chasing down hard-hit balls (highlighted by a diving catch in right field from Clemens), the Rays kept the pressure on.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Rays’ Brandon Lowe<\/a>, hit a hard double out to the right-field wall. A single from Jonathan Aranda<\/a> scored Lowe, to cut the lead to 2-1. A mound visit was the Twins’ attempt to give Ryan some time to breathe, but with two outs in the inning, Ryan hit Jos\u00e9 Caballero<\/a> to put more on base. He got out of the jam on a fly ball to left, but ran up his pitch count to 68.\u00a0\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tA small side note: The defense had a little different look tonight. With Byron Buxton<\/a> still out, Harrison Bader<\/a>\u2019s finger ailing and Royce Lewis<\/a> on the bench, Clemens took over right field, Willi Castro<\/a> was in left and DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. was in center. All of them acquitted themselves well, though Castro did lose the ball in the sky on a key single for Tampa.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tRyan was back out in the fifth and took back command of his pitches, logging a 1-2-3 inning in efficient fashion. The heat and humidity wer certainly a factor in tonight’s game: If a bat grabbed the ball, it traveled.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the top of the sixth, Bradley walked Ryan Jeffers<\/a>, and Correa got on base with a single. Brooks Lee hit a grounder to Lowe at second. He tried to start a double play, but his throw was too high, off the upstretched glove of the shortstop and trickling into left field. The error scored Jeffers to get back the run the Twins had lost and restore a two-run lead, 3-1.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLouis Varland<\/a> came out to replace Ryan. Caballero hit a single against him, then stole both second and third. Jeffers attempted to pick him off at second and third, but was unsuccessful in each attempt, and the next ground out from Kameron Misner<\/a> scored Caballero to close the gap again: 3-2.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the weather truly had a factor in tonight\u2019s game to help move the ball along, Correa took every advantage that he could and squared up every chance. He went 3-for-4 and got his ninth double of the season. Correa\u2019s aggressive hitting and baserunning gave the Twins a huge advantage, and a base hit from old reliable Ty France<\/a> brought Correa back home again, getting back their run and stretching the advantage to 4-2.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe one constant tonight was the striking out of Yandy Diaz<\/a>. Every pitcher who came in dominated Diaz at the plate, and reliever Griffin Jax<\/a> was no different. Jax\u2019s relief appearances have been better and better, and against the Rays tonight, he shut them down to secure the lead heading into the ninth.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tJhoan Duran<\/a> came in to close out the game and keep things in the win column. The Rays brought the tying run to the plate in the person of Caballero, who hit a long fly ball to left, but it settled into the glove of Keirsey (who’d moved over in a defensive switch) for the final out.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s Next?\u00a0
The Twins finish out the series tomorrow with the Rays. Pablo Lopez<\/a> (4-2; 2.31ERA) will be taking the mound against Drew Rasmussen<\/a> (3-4; \u00a02.60ERA) at 12:10PM CST.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPostgame Interviews\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\tRocco Baldelli – Postgame Interview 5\/27\/2025″>\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tBullpen Usage Spreadsheet\"Screenshot2025-05-27at9_35_11PM.png.2fac5bb5e3b2a61816eb41be684805fa.png\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Box ScoreStarting Pitcher: Joe Ryan 6 IP, 5H, 1ER, 1BB, 5K (82 pitches, 52 strikes (64%))Home Runs:\u00a0Kody Clemens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,1391,3225,16751,6439,3276,1455,822,60,3190,4,148,3197],"class_list":{"0":"post-60579","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brooks-lee","10":"tag-carlos-correa","11":"tag-deshawn-keirsey-jr","12":"tag-griffin-jax","13":"tag-jhoan-duran","14":"tag-joe-ryan","15":"tag-minnesota","16":"tag-minnesota-twins","17":"tag-minnesotatwins","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-twins","20":"tag-ty-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114584652914879268","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}