FORT MYERS, FLA. – Six consecutive Twins, none of whom were on the roster last season, collected hits during a six-run second inning on Saturday, Kenta Maeda and Jhoan Duran each came out throwing strikes in their 2023 debuts, and the Twins romped to an 8-4 victory over the Rays in their Grapefruit League opener at Hammond Stadium.
The game was the first Twins games ever played with a pitch clock to speed up the game, a ban on severe defensive shifts in the infield, and 18-inch square bases rather than the old 15-inch bags. None of the rule changes seemed to have a noticeable effect on the Twins' home game, which lasted 2 hours, 31 minutes.
Joey Gallo did, though. The former All-Star slugger singled to lead off the bottom of the first for the Twins, then doubled an inning later, the sixth consecutive hit by a mixture of Twins' free-agent signings and prospects.
The inning started with singles by Michael A. Taylor and Edouard Julien, a two-run triple by former Tigers infielder Willi Castro, an RBI single by first-round pick Brooks Lee in his first game in a Twins uniform, a two-run home run onto the left-field berm by former Astros first baseman Tyler White, and Gallo's opposite-field double. Gallo later scored on Kyle Farmer's sacrifice fly.
Josh Lowe drove Maeda's first competitive pitch since Aug. 21, 2021, over Gallo's head in left field for a double, but Maeda quickly retired the next three hitters, throwing 10 strikes among his 13 pitches. Duran pitched a perfect second inning, throwing eight strikes among 10 pitches, four of them clocked over 100 miles per hour.
Orioles 10, Twins 5
In Sarasota, the Twins split squad team lost to Baltimore as Heston Kjerstad went 3-for-3 and belted a pair of home runs.
Terrin Vavra, son of former Twins coach Joe Vavra, had a homer and double for the Birds.
Kala'i Rosario and Mark Contreras homered for the Twins. Brock Stewart gave up four runs in the third inning and took the loss.
