MINNEAPOLIS -- The Rays made a furious comeback effort Friday night as they tried to dig themselves out of an early hole, but the rally fell short. Tampa Bay lost to the Twins, 11-8, at Target Field and dropped its second straight game to Minnesota.
Rays starter Nathan Eovaldi was coming off one of his strongest outings of the year -- a nine-strikeout performance against the Mets on Sunday in which he held New York to one hit over seven innings. But the Twins jumped on the right-hander from the get-go. Minnesota batted around and put four runs on the board in the first inning as they punished Eovaldi for leaving a cluster of pitches up in the zone.