FORT MYERS, FLA. – Things didn't start well for righthander Liam Hendriks on Tuesday. "My warmup was ... horrendous," he said.
What followed was another example of why warmups — and some boxscores — should be ignored.
Hendriks pitched fairly well during the Twins' 8-5 loss to the Rays. Officially, he gave up two runs on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts. But here's how the two runs were scored in the second inning:
With two outs and a runner on first, Leslie Anderson sent a routine fly to left that Josh Willingham lost in the sun. The ball fell 30 feet to his right as a run scored.
Then Hendriks threw a two-strike breaking ball to Wil Myers that somehow was called a ball by umpire Bob Davidson. Myers walked, and Jose Lobaton followed with an RBI single.
Hendriks came back and pitched a scoreless third, giving up only a seeing-eye single to Evan Longoria.
"It proved to me at this point in time that I could have a long inning, sit down, go back out there and still feel good," Hendriks said. "The ball was coming out of my hand good. My offspeed stuff was working. I threw every single pitch I had for a strike. I was really happy."
Hendriks has given up four earned runs over eight innings this spring as he battles for a spot in the starting rotation.
