Fourth Straight Spring Training Loss Stings Rays
By Christine Roy — 3/6/12
The Tampa Bay Rays Spring Training is off to a rough start. In their first four games this year, they have come up short. Today things were no different when they lost to the Minnesota Twins 3-2.
Scott Baker made his spring debut and threw two scoreless innings to pick up the win. Ryan Doumit and Danny Valencia each had RBIs and second baseman Alexi Casilla had two hits.
For the Rays, Carlos Pena made his Spring Training debut but was held without a hit. Jeff Niemann got the loss after a rough first inning. Ben Revere and Jamey Carroll led off with back-to-back singles and a Niemann throwing error allowed both players to move into scoring position. Ryan Doumit capitalized by driving in Revere with a ground out to the right side of the infield. Things then calmed down with a lineout by Chris Parmelee and a ground out by Danny Valencia. Niemann got back on track in the second with a 1-2-3 inning.
In the eighth the Rays offense came alive. Stephen Vogt led off with a double and was able to score after left fielder Darin Mastroianni made a fielding error. With two outs, Elliot Johnson pulled the team within one on a Jose Lobaton single to right. But that was where their momentum stopped. In the bottom of the ninth Tim Beckham singled with one out but Vogt flew out and Juan Miranda struck out to end the game.
On Thursday these two teams will face off at Minnesota’s Lee County Sports Complex in Ft. Myers.