FORT MYERS, FLA. – Before the Twins' 6-3 victory against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday at Hammond Stadium, Carlos Correa joked with starting pitcher Joe Ryan ahead of the shortstop's Twins debut.
Carlos Correa makes diving stop, gets hit in first inning in Twins debut
The shortstop played four innings in his first Grapefruit League game with his new team, going 1-for-2.
March 28, 2022 at 11:48AM
"Let me get a ball," is what Correa asked Ryan, who replied, "I'll try my best to keep it on the ground."
And on the first at-bat, that's exactly what happened. Correa orchestrated the first out of the day, diving between second and third base to cut off Enrique Hernandez's ground ball and flinging it to first baseman Miguel Sano. In the bottom of the inning, he smacked a two-out single from his third spot in the batting order, a line drive to left field.
Correa played four innings, including two at-bats with his ground out in the fourth.
"I usually don't like to go dive first game in spring training, but I couldn't let my boy Kiké from Puerto Rico get a hit," Correa said. "And you want to cause a good first impression to the pitchers, feel like they can trust you. Felt good to be out there, felt good to make a play, felt good to see some at-bats."
The Twins loaded the bases on the fourth inning off Sano's two-out single and walks from Alex Kirilloff and Gary Sanchez. Boston pitcher Jake Diekman then walked in a run with Gio Urshela also taking a base.
Rafael Devers scored two runs off his sacrifice fly in the sixth inning to put the Red Sox up 2-1. But the Twins reclaimed their lead in the eighth inning. Jose Godoy had an RBI single. Jose Miranda's groundout with the bases loaded scored another run. And Trevor Larnach hit his second home run of the spring to score three more.
Boston managed a consolation run in the ninth off former Twins outfielder Rob Refsnyder's solo home run.
Ryan went three innings, allowing just one walk while striking out five. And Ryan, who made his MLB debut late last season, received Correa's message of trust.
"We've got an electric defense," Ryan said. "It's pretty easy to fill up the zone when you have that, and you just know that they're going to make the plays behind you and get it done."
Talk of competing for the best players or of a potential new owner wielding big bucks doesn’t change this: They are last in popularity among the four major men’s pro sports.
