ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — Twins starting pitcher Randy Dobnak returned Friday at Tampa Bay after 2 ½ months away, forced the first three batters to ground out and retired the last 15 he faced consecutively.
The second and third innings between cost the Twins a 5-3 loss, their third consecutive and fourth in five games.
Sidelined 60 games by a strained middle finger ligament that seemed small enough in late June, Dobnak's sinker and slider stuff impressed early and late against the East Division-leading Rays, who knocked him for three runs in the second inning and two more in the third. The Twins scored their only runs on solo homers, Jorge Polanco's in the first and Ryan Jeffers' in the fifth.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli noted pitches Dobnak left up high after so long away in those two innings. He threw 88 pitches — 53 strikes — before leaving after seven innings for reliever Ralph Garza Jr.
"The latter half was pretty much classic Randy Dobnak when you see him good," Baldelli said. "When you pitch down in the zone, you get some ground balls and miss some bats with that slider. That's when he's at his best."
Dobnak, 26, called himself "amped up" to pitch again, saying he initially didn't think he'd miss more than two or three weeks. He attributed those two troublesome innings to "almost leaning" and falling off to the mound's side before he corrected his mechanics.
"This is probably the first time I've had this much time off during these months of the year since I was 3 or 4," he said. "The arm's built up, the finger feels good. I just go out there and do what I do."
