Twins, D. Santana rally, pile on vs. Rays
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Danny Santana continued his strong spring with a triple to spark a three-run rally in the fifth and Minor Leaguer Niko Goodrum hit a three-run homer to help the Twins to a 9-4 win over the Rays on Monday at Hammond Stadium.
Rays right-hander Jose De Leon, who was also mentioned in trade talks involving the Twins for James Dozier before being traded for John Forsythe, allowed three runs on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts.
De Leon was hurt by the three-run homer from Goodrum. But De Leon got a boost from Mallex Smith in the first, as he made a great catch to rob Joe Mauer of a homer in left-center field.
"I'm happy because I felt better than my previous starts," De Leon said. "Still working on the command, but I think it's a step forward today. Just have to keep working on it and it will be good."
Twins right-hander Justin Haley, a Rule 5 Draft pick, made his first start of the spring. He allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits over two innings.
• Haley happy to accept any role with Twins
"It was a good experience," Haley said. "I just wanted to go out there and get a good feel for everything. I thought I threw a lot of pitches well, but didn't have the best of luck on a couple of them."
The Rays took an early lead in the first on a sacrifice fly from Jake Bauers before adding two more runs in the second on a two-run blast from Player Page for Shane Peterson, but Goodrum's homer brought Minnesota even in the bottom of the second.
Tampa Bay took the lead again in the fifth on an RBI ground-rule double from Steven Souza Jr. But Minnesota came back with three runs, keyed by a leadoff triple from Santana, an RBI double from Benji Gonzalez and a sacrifice fly from Zack Granite. Mauer recovered from his robbed homer with an RBI single in the frame.
Ben Paulsen added a two-run single in the eighth off right-hander Ryne Stanek, while Engelb Vielma slapped an RBI single in the ninth off right-hander Christopher Guerrieri.
Rays Up Next: The Rays will split up on Tuesday to play the Yankees and Orioles. They'll host the Yankees at Charlotte Sports Park in a 1:05 p.m. ET contest that will air on a free, exclusive audio webcast on raysbaseball.com. Jake Odorizzi will start for Tampa Bay opposite New York's Luis Severino. The other Rays contingent will travel to Sarasota to play the Orioles at 1:05 p.m. ET. Blake Snell will start for the Rays, and Wade Miley will start for the Orioles..
Twins Up Next: The Twins have an off-day on Tuesday, but right-hander Tyler Duffey will start on Wednesday against the Cardinals at 12:05 p.m. CT. Duffey, who is competing for the fifth spot in the rotation, has allowed seven runs (five earned) in 6 2/3 innings this spring. Other pitchers expected to see action include Brandon Kintzler, Craig Breslow, Thomas Pressly, Matt Belisle and Player Page for Buddy Boshers. The game will air on MLB.TV and Gameday Audio.
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