Minnesota Twins Pitchers Report from 3-2 Win over Tampa Bay Rays

The Minnesota Twins traveled to Port Charlotte, Fla., to play against the Tampa Bay Rays this afternoon and won 3-2.

Scott Baker took the mound to start for the Twins. While he did not give up any runs or hits, he did not look entirely sharp during the outing. He walked one in the second, and five of his six outs came on fly balls to the outfield. He was leaving pitches up and was not working the strike zone well.

Left-hander Matt Maloney took over for Baker in the third and worked two innings.  He faced eight batters, giving up two hits and striking out one.  Both hits were allowed in his first inning of work. He went 1-2-3 in the next inning with two fly ball outs.

Matt Capps, the Twins projected closer, came in for the Twins in the fifth and faced five batters. He allowed two hits and no runs and was having difficulty commanding the zone. All three of his outs came on fly balls to the outfield.

Glen Perkins pitched the sixth for the Twins and got a quick 1-2-3 inning.  He struck out the first batter swinging, got the second batter to ground the ball back to him for a 1-3 out and struck out the third batter looking.  He did, however, work the count full twice and threw 16 pitches in his one inning of work.

Brian Duensing pitched the seventh for the Twins, facing five batters.  He gave up one hit and walked one.  He did not strike anyone out nor did he allow any runs.  Overall it was a solid outing for the man trying to push for a starting job with the Twins.

Jeff Gray took the ball for the Twins in the eighth and almost immediately struggled.  He gave up a lead-off double. He got the second batter he faced to fly out to center field and got the third batter to hit a fly ball to left field.

But, on that fly ball, Twins left fielder Darin Mastroianni dropped the ball, which allowed the runner at second to score and the batter to easily make it to second.  Gray followed that with a fly ball out to left field, but then gave up a single and a walk. 

Gray ended the inning by getting Rays third basemen Matt Mangini to ground out to second. Gray threw a total of 23 pitches in his one inning or work.

Left-hander Phil Dumatrait took the mound for the Twins in the ninth and struck out the first batter he faced.  He gave up a single to the next batter, but got the third batter he faced to fly out to left field.  He struck out the final batter of the game.

While the Twins did not allow any earned runs, overall the pitching staff was leaving too many pitches up in the strike zone and not striking out enough with only five strikeouts over nine innings of work.  

Fifteen of the 27 defensive outs the Twins got were on fly balls.

But, overall, the box score looked good for Twins pitchers.