Park homers as Twins blank Rays

March 28th, 2017

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Rays ace Chris Archer, in his final tune-up before his Opening Day start against the Yankees on Sunday, tossed three scoreless innings against the Twins, but ByungHo Park homered in the seventh to lift Minnesota to a 1-0 win on Tuesday at Hammond Stadium.
Archer allowed one hit, a double that speedster legged out on a routine hit to left in the first inning, and walked one with four strikeouts. He finishes Grapefruit League play with a 1.98 ERA.
"I felt really good, felt really good," said Archer of Tuesday's outing, which capped a nice spring. "I came in with a couple of goals, and I think I've achieved those goals. And I'm looking forward to April 2 [for Opening Day] and kicking this thing off right."

Park crushed his team-leading fifth homer of the year to right-center off Rays right-hander .
"It's less of a mechanical thing than a timing thing with the bat," Park said through a translator of his success this spring. "My timing has been great at the plate. It's worked out really well for me."
Right-hander Nick Tepesch was also solid for the Twins, throwing four scoreless innings, scattering three hits and a walk. Tepesch, who is expected to give the Twins depth at Triple-A Rochester, had a 4.41 ERA this spring.
Twins Rule 5 Draft pick , competing for a spot in the bullpen as a Rule 5 pick, threw three scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 4.96.
Twins first baseman Joe Mauer turned two double plays, as twice the Rays hit a hard line drive to him with a runner at first to end the inning. Mauer also doubled in the fourth but was stranded at second.

Rays reliever Danny Farquhar threw a scoreless fourth, while right-hander tossed two scoreless frames.
Rays Up Next: The Rays will host the Orioles Wednesday afternoon in a 1:05 p.m. ET contest at Charlotte Sports Park. will start for the Rays. Also scheduled to see work are , Alex Colome, , Tommy Hunter, and Jumbo Diaz. Watch for Schultz, who is a bullpen hopeful. He is a swing-and-miss pitcher with a 97-mph fastball.
Twins Up Next: Right-hander , who will start for the Twins on Opening Day against the Royals, makes his final start of the spring on Wednesday against the Red Sox at JetBlue Park at 12:05 p.m. CT. Closer , and Matt Belisle are also scheduled to pitch.
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