{"id":661156,"date":"2026-04-03T17:08:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661156\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T17:08:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:08:21","slug":"twins-host-struggling-rays-in-saturday-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/661156\/","title":{"rendered":"Twins Host Struggling Rays in Saturday Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"submission-link-wrapper\"><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.nationaltoday.com\/news?location=Minneapolis%2C+MN&amp;city=Minneapolis&amp;type=Update+Existing+Story&amp;headline=Twins+Host+Struggling+Rays+in+Saturday+Showdown&amp;page=https%3A%2F%2Fnationaltoday.com%2Fus%2Fmn%2Fminneapolis%2Fnews%2F2026%2F04%2F03%2Ftwins-host-struggling-rays-in-saturday-showdown%2F\" class=\"submission-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/69cfe7e4c49da.jpg\" alt=\"A fragmented, geometric painting depicting a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins, with overlapping planes of vibrant team colors representing the dynamic action on the field.\" width=\"1344\" height=\"768\" class=\"news-image\"\/>A cubist interpretation of the Rays and Twins battling it out on the diamond, reflecting the fractured nature of their early-season struggles.Minneapolis Today<\/p>\n<p>The Minnesota Twins (1-4) will host the Tampa Bay Rays (2-4) on Saturday at Target Field in Minneapolis. The Rays come in as -132 favorites, but the Twins are looking to turn things around at home after a slow start to the season.<\/p>\n<p>      Why it matters<\/p>\n<p>Both teams have struggled out of the gate, with the Rays&#8217; pitching staff ranking near the bottom of the league in several key metrics. The Twins will look to capitalize on Tampa Bay&#8217;s early-season issues and pick up their second win of the year.<\/p>\n<p>            The details<\/p>\n<p>The Rays have a team ERA of 5.44, which ranks 28th in MLB, and have allowed 9 home runs and 38 total runs so far this season. Meanwhile, the Twins&#8217; offense has sputtered, batting just .210 as a team. Rays starter Steven Matz will look to bounce back after a rough first outing, while the Twins counter with young righty Mick Abel.<\/p>\n<p>      The game is scheduled for Saturday, April 4, 2026.First pitch is set for 7:40 PM local time in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n<p>        The players<\/p>\n<p>        Steven Matz<\/p>\n<p>A veteran left-hander making his second start of the season for the Rays.<\/p>\n<p>Mick Abel<\/p>\n<p>A promising young right-hander making his third career MLB start for the Twins.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/forms.nationaltoday.com\/news?location=Minneapolis%2C+MN&amp;city=Minneapolis&amp;type=Upload+Story+Photos&amp;headline=Twins+Host+Struggling+Rays+in+Saturday+Showdown&amp;page=https%3A%2F%2Fnationaltoday.com%2Fus%2Fmn%2Fminneapolis%2Fnews%2F2026%2F04%2F03%2Ftwins-host-struggling-rays-in-saturday-showdown%2F\" class=\"submission-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Got photos? Submit your photos here. \u203a<\/a><br \/>\n            What they\u2019re saying<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-quote\">\u201cWe need to get our pitching straightened out if we want to turn this season around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-cite\">\u2014 Kevin Cash, Rays Manager<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-quote\">\u201cIt&#8217;s still early, but we have to start stringing some wins together at home if we want to get back in this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"news-quote-cite\">\u2014 Rocco Baldelli, Twins Manager<\/p>\n<p>            What\u2019s next<\/p>\n<p>The Twins and Rays will play the second game of their three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Target Field.<\/p>\n<p>        The takeaway<\/p>\n<p>This early-season matchup between two struggling teams could set the tone for the rest of their respective seasons. The Twins will look to capitalize on the Rays&#8217; pitching woes, while Tampa Bay hopes to get their rotation back on track with a road win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Got story updates? Submit your updates here. \u203a A cubist interpretation of the Rays and Twins battling it&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,822,60,3190,4,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-661156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-twins","11":"tag-minnesotatwins","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116341881238690849","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661156","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=661156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}