- Kevin Tall
- Johny Damon; stock photo
The evening after rain delayed the first game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Minnesota Twins, the boys from the Bay-area let out a deluge of the offensive variety.
On a snowy night at Minnesota’s Target Field, the Rays were dead-on, cruising to an 8-2 victory.
The Rays jumped all over Minnesota starter Francisco Liriano like Fox Sports Florida’s color analyst Brian Anderson on a free hot dog in the press box.
Tampa Bay batters gorged themselves on a steady diet of Liriano fastballs, starting when Super Sam Fuld took Liriano’s 2-2 pitch to the wall in right field for two bases, igniting a five-hit fire sale at the expense of the Twins’ lefty. Johnny Damon brought Fuld home with a line-drive base hit to center, scoring the first of four runs of the inning. B.J. Upton advanced the veteran Damon to third with his two-base liner to left. Both baserunners scored on a stand-up triple by Big Ben Zobrist; Zorilla came home on a single by Sean Rodriguez, capping a huge, offensive jump-start in the first frame. Tampa Bay sent all nine hitters to the plate in the inning.
Perhaps Rays starting righty Wade Davis took that four-run lead for granted; he allowed a leadoff single to Denard Span and walked Alexi Casilla. Davis sharpened up and struck out Jason Kubel. He then induced a Justin Morneau grounder to second, which Rodriguez, Reid Brignac and Dan Johnson turned into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
This article appears in May 19-25, 2011.