Rays' Season-Long Winning Streak Ends with 4-2 Loss to Twins on Tuesday

TAMPA, Fla. — All good things must come to an end, and for the Tampa Bay Rays, it was their season-long six-game winning streak. They lost 4-2 to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night, unable to figure out former Rays farmhand Joe Ryan.

The Rays, who had outscored opponents 37-10 during the streak and hadn't trailed in a game for five days, fell behind early on Tuesday night, and never led.

Rays pitcher Taj Bradley had another quality start — his team-high seventh of the season — but it wasn't enough. He allowed runs in each of the first two innings — Trevor Larnach opened the game with a double and scored and a sacrifice fly and Kody Clemens hit a solo home run in the second.

The third run came in the sixth inning and it really wasn't his fault when Brandon Lowe made a rare throwing error. It was Tampa Bay's first error in eight games.

Clemens, picked up from Philadelphia in an April 28 trade, has been the Twins' best player the past month. This was his fifth home run in May, and he's hitting .418 this month. The Twins are 17-4 since he joined the team.

“He’s our most valuable player, man,” Twins shortstop Carlos Correa said. “He came in, and all he’s done ever since he came in is just hit and hit for power, which is exactly what we needed in this lineup.”

The Rays bats never got going, getting only six hits and going just 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Brandon Lowe had a double in the fourth and scored on a Jonathan Aranda single, and Jose Caballaro scored in the seventh after a single, and two stolen bases. He then scored on a Kameron Misner ground out to make it 3-2.

But the Twins got an insurance run in the eighth inning off Manuel Rodriguez when Carlos Correa doubled and scored on a Ty France single. The Rays struck out three times in the eighth and only got a ninth-inning walk before Chandler Simpson grounded out to the pitcher and Caballaro flied out to end the game.

Ryan, who was in the Rays' farm system until 2021 when he was traded for Nelson Cruz, picked up the win to raise his record to 5-2. Bradley (4-4) took the loss. Jhoan Duran earned his ninth save.

The two teams get together again on Wednesday afternoon with a great pitching matchup. Drew Rasmussen, who's been the Rays ' best starter and has pitched six scoreless innings in two straight starts, will square off with Minnesota's Pablo Lopez. He's 4-2 with a 2.31 ERA and 0.97 WHIP. The game starts at 1:10 p.m.

Tuesday's game was witnessesd by another sellout crowd of 10,046 at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. It was the Rays' 33rd sellout in 36 games. Former great Roger Clemens was in the crowd to watch his son Kody play for the Twins.

“You know what, I’m pretty pleased with the way we’re playing,” Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters after the game. “I mean, sometimes you’ve got to — the other team, give them credit. They got some timely hits when they needed to. Joe Ryan’s a very good pitcher, kept us quiet.

“But I’m guessing with the momentum that we’ve kind of created, we’ll bounce back and have a good game (Wednesday).”