Joe Ryan was great again, Kody Clemens smacked a homer, and the Twins won.
A struggling Twins offense scored first tonight, in the 1st inning, on a Brooks Lee sacrifice fly. That scored Trevor Larnach who had led off the game with a double.
Joe Ryan took that early lead and was able to get out of a jam in the 1st thanks to an inning ending double play turned by Lee and Correa. It was a close play, and Caminero was originally called safe, but replay overturned it, preventing the runner from 3rd from coming in.
In the top of the 2nd, Kody Clemens gave the Twins a 2-0 lead with a solo homer (5) to center, into some sort of tent. In the bottom of the 2nd, Jonathan Aranda was caught stealing home to end the inning.
In the 4th, Aranda drove in the first Rays run on a single, scoring Brandon Lowe who had doubled earlier.
In the top of the 6th, Ryan Jeffers walked, then Correa singled. Brooks Lee then grounded to 2nd, but the 2nd baseman airmailed the throw to 2nd, allowing Jeffers to score. For an offense that has struggled to score recently, that was a big gift.
Joe Ryan, who worked through some difficult innings, had quick and easy 5th and 6th innings to end his night. Louis Varland took over in the 7th, and Jose Caballero singled with 1 out. Caballero proceeded to steal 2nd and 3rd base, then score on a groundout to make it a 3-2 game.
A Correa double and Ty France single gave the Twins a nice insurance run in the top of the 8th, then Griffin Jax struck out the side in the bottom half.
Jhoan Duran entered for the save and got the tying run, Jose Caballero, to fly out to the warning track in left to end the game.
I’m sure Kody Clemens can sustain his 1.034 OPS, but just in case he can’t it’d be really nice to get Buxton and Wallner back soon.
Studs:
Joe Ryan: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, BB, 5 K
Griffin Jax: 1.0 IP, 3 K
Carlos Correa: 3-4, 2B
Kody Clemens: 1-4, HR
Duds:
NO DUDS TWINS WIN!