Luis Arráez, Pablo López meet up with former teammates. 'Still love my guys,' ex-Twins infielder says

Swapped for each other three months ago, new Twins starting pitcher Pablo López and reigning American League batting champion Luis Arraez each still found their way to the visitors' clubhouse before Monday's game at LoanDepot Park in Miami.

It's a stadium and city López remembers fondly from his six years there — and remembers the way around because he played there last month for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.

"It's a place that saw me grow as a player, as a person," López told reporters before the game. "It's a place where I saw my hair fall out, too."

Arraez stopped by the Twins clubhouse during spring training in Florida. Then he saw them again Monday, playing against them for real for the first time.

"I still love my guys, I still love Minnesota," the Marlins second baseman told reporters, before hitting a fifth-inning RBI single off Tyler Mahle for Miami's only run in an 11-1 loss. "I miss a lot of my guys there. This is business. It's not personal … I've got something in my heart for the Minnesota Twins."

Arraez went 2-for-5 Monday and is hitting a tidy .524 (11-for-21) in his first five games with his new team.

"I've got a lot of feeling, good feeling," Arraez said. "I see my people I still feel in my heart. ... This is baseball and I come here to play for the Marlins now and do my job. They're my team now."

Asked if his return was a big deal, López said: "Not as much anymore because for WBC we were there. So the whole experience of going to the visiting side, seeing the people I know from being there, it's going to be a little less now."

His Venezuela team used the visitors clubhouse and dugout when he pitched four-plus innings in a 9-6 victory over Puerto Rico, "so it won't be as strange just being there," López said.

"But playing against the Marlins will definitely be a weird day. A bunch of guys I played with for five years. The time I was there, I never pictured facing them. ... There's going to be a little more emotion. There will be something just because of how unique it is for me."

López will wait until Wednesday to face his former teammates, opposite Venezuelan teammate Jesús Luzardo in the series finale. He is staying at his home where he has lived year-round in recent seasons and will see his sister and nephews while he's in town.

"The first two days I'll get to catch up on all my hellos," he said. "But then once I'm on the mound, they're not my friends, they're my rivals. It's going to be fun. It's going to be nice to be home."

With new restrictions on defensive shifts, the batting average for nine-inning games was .246 compared to .230 in last season's notably cold and wet first four days.

Commissioner Rob Manfred called the league "extremely pleased with the early returns, termed fan reaction positive with the faster pace and praised players for adjusting so well to the changes."

Staff writer Phil Miller contributed to this report. The Star Tribune did not send the writer of this article to the game. This was written using a broadcast, interviews and other material.