Rays 8, Twins 7: SpanSpanSpanSpan

Enjoy this nugget from MLB’s Gameday:

“Carlos Gomez grounds into a double play, second baseman Brian Dozier to shortstop Eduardo Escobar to first baseman Joe Mauer. Denard Span out at 2nd.”

Trippy, eh? That’s pretty much tonight’s game all over. Hope you celebrated 4/20 accordingly.

Span had himself quite the ballgame, driving in both the go-ahead and Go-Ahead-More scoring plays, stealing a base, and walking off the Rays win ... kind of? With two outs and Johnny Field on third, Span bounced one to Mauer, who tossed it perfectly at Zach Duke covering ... who missed stepping on the bag.

That was assessed via replay, as was a bizarre play early on where Escobar doubled on a ... liner to center? Mallex Smith almost made the catch, and spent so much time framing it for benefit of umps/cameras that EE was able to hustle that extra base. Tampa Bay challenged, replay changed nothing, Escobar would later score, and the Twins had several plays later which probably COULD have been overturned ... except the Rays were out of challenges ...

Lance Lynn benefited from the Lead Paragraph double play, which was needed as he continues to walk a lot of guys. Minnesota looked dead at 6-2, until Eddie Rosario came up with two out and three on in the eighth. For some reason, Rays skipper Kevin Cash left RHP Sergio Romo in to face Rosario, even though he had LHP Ryan Yarbrough toasty warm. (Yarbrough hadn’t allowed a hit against lefties this year.) I dunno, maybe it was a SaberMetric thing. TIE GAME, BABY!

Next inning, Yarbrough would give up his first 2018 hit ... to Max Kepler (not known for walloping lefties) ... LATE LEAD, BABY!

Then it was FRE time (“FRE” — ©TwinkieTown, 2018). Fernando Rodney blew it by two Tampa batters, got Gomez to miss so hard his bat went a-sailin’, and then ... plunked Go-Go. Who promptly stole second. And then, on a goofy FieldTurf bounce (remember those?), tied the ballgame.

Adding to the STRANGE, Minnesota had managed to outlast Chris Archer ... then blew the win because of a guy who pretends to shoot arrows. (According to Gladden on radio, Rodney does this Robin Hood bit to honor his home in the Dominican Republic ... but how does shooting arrows have anything to do with the DR? Are they like, super Olympic bow-shooters? I’m confused.)

Addison Reed threw a fantastic eighth inning, and his nickname is REEFER! I’m not making this up! (Actually, it’s “Reeder,” so I lied.)

Your comments of the Game Thread: “I will commit hari-kari on the grounds of old Met stadium if Rodney pi**es this away” (mefoolonhill). “your last meal will be a plateful of IKEA meatballs” (dobber135).

Thanks to everyone who joined the game thread (which kinda wasn’t, because of a bizarre SB Nation software glitch). You folks were terrific!