Rays cool off Twins offense on a hot day in Tampa, win series finale 5-0

TAMPA, FLA. – The Twins were shut out for the fourth time this season, a 5-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, and they felt the fourth inning was a nice encapsulation of how their day went.

Carlos Correa lined out to third base to begin the inning, drilling a ball that Rays third baseman Junior Caminero caught while diving to his left. Brooks Lee, the next batter, lofted a fly ball down the left-field line that ended up as a leaping grab for Chandler Simpson, who fell to the ground after hitting his face against the side wall.

Ty France followed with a hard-hit ground ball to third base. Caminero made a sliding stop, jumped up and fired a one-hop throw for the inning-ending out.

“We hit a ton of line drives, and they amounted to zilch,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “That’s life in this game. We had some days we didn’t blast the ball all around the park, get a few baserunners, make it happen and score a bunch of runs. Today was the opposite.”

The Twins, who lost a series for the first time since losing three of four games at Cleveland from April 28-May 1, totaled only one hit in six innings against Rays starter Drew Rasmussen, a line-drive leadoff single from Trevor Larnach in the first inning.

Carlos Correa and Brooks Lee opened the seventh inning, after the Rays replaced Rasmussen, with back-to-back singles. Royce Lewis, hitless in his past 24 at-bats, flew out to the warning track in right field, his fly ball caught next to the wall.

“I’m at a point where the hope is gone,” said Lewis, who is batting .138 through 19 games. “I just do my job as best as I can. If I keep hitting the ball hard, they say it’s going to find a hole, but I haven’t seen it yet.”

After back-to-back singles from Christian Vázquez and pinch hitter Carson McCusker started the eighth inning — McCusker’s first major league hit was a blooper that dropped in right field — Rays reliever Mason Montgomery retired the top of the lineup in order. That included a lineout from Ryan Jeffers that went to the warning track in center.

“If we have the same offensive game the next time we step on the field, we’re going to score a few runs,” Baldelli said. “There is no way we’re going to hit line drives and not score runs.”

It’s been a stretch of tough pitching against the Twins. Their previous series came against Kansas City, a team with the second-lowest ERA in the majors, and the Rays hold the ninth-lowest team ERA.

“We didn’t strike out too much,” Lewis said. “It feels like guys put up competitive at-bats, stuck to a good game plan. When you’re hitting the ball hard, ultimately that’s all you can do. That’s why it’s nine against one.”

Twins starting pitcher Pablo López, on a humid 89-degree afternoon in front of 8,372 fans, allowed four runs in five innings, just his second start this season he gave up more than two earned runs.

López surrendered two home runs in the fourth inning, nearly matching how many homers he gave up (three) in his first 53 innings this year. It was the first time he gave up multiple homers in an inning since April 28, 2024, against the Los Angeles Angels.

He threw a first-pitch strike to 10 of his first 13 batters, but the two homers came when he was behind in the count.

“You fall into that mentality that you don’t want to give free passes,” López said. “I think sometimes that takes a little conviction out of the pitch. I fell behind and tried to come back in the zone — and too much plate, too much zone.”

After López breezed through the first three innings in 39 pitches, without a baserunner touching second base, he watched Brandon Lowe hammer a changeup he left over the heart of the plate in a 2-1 count onto the concourse in right field for a leadoff solo home run.

BOXSCORE: Rays 5, Twins 0

MLB standings

Jonathan Aranda, who had multiple hits in all three games against the Twins this series, lined a one-out single to center before Caminero pulled a low sinker in a 1-0 count beyond the left-field wall for a two-run homer.

“I kept joking with everyone that the best thing you can do in conditions like this is have quick innings,” López said. “When the inning started getting long, I just started to feel soaked. … There are definitely ways to figure it out, and I just couldn’t do it today.”

After an off day Thursday, the Twins will continue their 10-game road trip with a three-game series at Seattle.