Park's HR, Santana's 2 scoreless pace Twins

Park's HR, Santana's 2 scoreless pace Twins

February 27th, 2017
Byungho Park opened the scoring on Monday with a two-run homer in the first inning. (AP)

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Byungho Park continued his hot start, hitting a two-run homer to help the Twins to a 9-6 win over the Marlins on Monday at CenturyLink Sports Complex.
It was Park's second homer of the spring, and it came on a 96-mph fastball from Marlins starter . It was Urena's lone inning of work, allowing two runs on one hit to get pegged with the loss.
Park, who also doubled off the wall in right field on Friday, has been Minnesota's best hitter early this spring. He was designated for assignment shortly before Spring Training, but he cleared waivers and is competing for a spot as the club's everyday designated hitter along with and fellow non-roster invitee Ben Paulsen.
"That was nice to see," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "It was another two-strike at-bat where he was able do something with the baseball."
paced the offense for the Marlins with a two-run homer of his own off lefty reliever . Miami also scored in the third on an error by Twins shortstop and in the seventh and eighth on RBI singles from Cam Maron and , respectively.
Right-hander , Minnesota's projected Opening Day starter, was solid, throwing two scoreless innings.
The Twins used a five-run second to their advantage, as lefty -- who is competing for a rotation spot alongside Urena -- struggled. drew a bases-loaded walk before Danny Santana brought home two runs with a single. Robbie Grossman followed with a bloop two-run double to cap the inning's scoring.
Former Twins left-hander , a Minnesota native, pitched against his former team, recording two outs in the second.
"First outing for me is just first outing, good, bad or whatever," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "We got a lot of time, so we don't want to judge [Urena] because he gives up a run or whatever. And the same with [Nicolino]. Both of those guys, we want to really give them a chance to get their feet wet. We got a long spring. They're going to get a lot of outings. We'll see where they go from there."
Up Next
Marlins: The Marlins return home to Roger Dean Stadium on Tuesday to face the Mets at 1:05 p.m. ET in a game that will air on Gameday Audio. Left-hander is scheduled to make his first start of the spring. Chen missed almost two months late last season with an elbow injury. He returned in September to finish with a record of 5-5 and a career-high 4.96 ERA in 22 starts.
Twins: The Twins leave Fort Myers for the first time on Tuesday, when they'll head to Port Charlotte, Fla., to face the Rays at 12:05 p.m. CT. Left-hander will be making his spring debut and his first of two starts before leaving to join Team Puerto Rico for the World Baseball Classic. Other pitchers scheduled to throw include , , , Matt Belisle, J.T. Chargois, and .
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