MLB Season Review: Tampa Bay Rays sweep Minnesota Twins 3-0 in three-game series
American League’s Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins went head-to-head in an exciting three-game series. Tampa Bay was amazing and did a superb job as they completed a 3-0 victory in the series after defeating the Twins comfortably.
Let us take an overview and see how the Rays swept the Twins.
Game 1 – April 27: Tampa Bay Rays 8 – Minnesota Twins 2
Rays directed an 8-2 win in the first game, as Wade Davis was impressive with his pitching. He had five strike-outs with an ERA of 2.73 in the Rays convincing victory. Twins’ manager, Ron Gardenhire said, “We didn't pitch. Our lineup didn't do anything but
the pitcher got us behind [7-1]. We had a couple chances to get a big hit and get a run too, but we didn't do that too.”
Twins’ batters were able to make only two runs in the first game. Francisco Liriano threw beautifully for the Twins but that was not enough to secure a win for his team. He was able to strike-out only four batters on his 83 pitches and permitted six hits
with seven earned runs.
Game 2 – April 28: Tampa Bay Rays 15 – Minnesota Twins 3
During the second game, Rays hammered the Twins 15-3. Rays’ starter, Jeremy Hellickson threw the ball in good line as he pitched just over six innings and surrendered just three runs and seven hits on his 107 pitches. Hellickson had three strike-outs with
an ERA of 4.31.
Ben Zobrist said, “Anytime you have that many RBIs it's because your teammates are on base for you every time.”
Twins struggled with the bat and scored just three runs until the end of the game. Nick Blackburn had a shaky day with the ball as he threw just over three innings with an ERA of 5.14 and gave away eight hits, seven runs, four walks, one homer and five earned
runs on his 86 pitches.
Game 3 – April 28: Tampa Bay Rays 6 – Minnesota Twins 1
During the final game of the series, Twins lost 6-1. Rays’ second baseman Zobrist shined as he completed three runs including two RBIs and went 3-for-4 with an average of .258. Rays’ starter, Jeff Niemann pitched seven innings and allowed two hits, one run
and one earned run including two strike-outs.
Twins were able to post only one run in the series finale and failed to avoid a clean sweep against the Rays. Anthony Swarzak pitched just over five innings and gave away five runs, eight hits, five earned runs and two home-runs on his 95 pitches. However,
a tremendous team effort kept the Rays on top against the struggling Twins throughout the series.
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