FORT MYERS, FLA. — The Twins earned their first spring victory Sunday, beating Tampa Bay 3-0 at Hammond Stadium.
Twins beat Rays 3-0 for first Grapefruit League victory
Derek Fisher homered and a string of pitchers combined for the shutout of Tampa Bay.
March 20, 2022 at 10:15PM
Luis Arraez tripled to center field and scored on a Miguel Sano single in the third inning. Derek Fisher hit a home run in the seventh inning, and Jermaine Palacios doubled to bring in David Banuelos in the eighth.
Starter Dylan Bundy made his spring debut, allowing one hit and striking out one in his two innings on the mound.
"Throw two innings healthy and on to the next one, that's the goal," Bundy said. "I was wanting to do some stuff to right-handed batters, but they only had one in the lineup, so that was kind of hard to get done. But I was able to get to the slider, and that's what I wanted to throw to the lefty every now and then just to work on it, and it worked a lot better."
Bundy signed before the lockout but only had one 45-minute phone conversation with pitching coach Wes Johnson. So he ended up throwing a dozen or so bullpens in the offseason and worked up to about 55 pitches. But he's been anticipating playing actual games and receiving some hands-on coaching.
Bundy said he already began implementing some of the mechanical corrections in Sunday's outing.
"Getting my lower half more involved and just getting the pitches where they need to get," Bundy said. "Last year I did a poor job of that. Just felt like every time I tried to throw a slider, it was six inches too high, fastball same thing, just wasn't getting to where I needed to get it. And maybe some of that's mechanics. Part of it is, we know that. And then also just focus, I think."
Sunday was also the spring debut for relievers Taylor Rogers, Tyler Duffey and Jharel Cotton. Rogers struck out all three batters he faced in the third inning. Duffey had his three batters ground out in the fourth. And Cotton struck out his third batter after the first two were pop and fly outs.
Ralph Garza Jr., was set to pitch the final inning but lasted only one toss before becoming ill and having to leave the game. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said after the game Garza was "doing fine," and the training staff is not worried about any prolonged symptoms.
Payroll disparity has caused smaller-market MLB teams to become a feeder system to markets who can overspend on star players. Change is on the horizon, but it might take a few more years of suffering.
