ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – Dylan Bundy left the Tropicana Field mound after the first inning feeling like the Rays had ambushed him.
Four batters, four hits — including two doubles and a home run — put the Twins down 4-0 early, and they never recovered, falling 6-1 to Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field on Friday. The loss halted a seven-game winning streak, the longest active run in the league and the Twins' longest within a season since 2011, and set the Twins back to 11-9. The Rays improved to 12-8.
"They just jumped me on the stuff away," Bundy said. "I think they saw the three previous starts [I made], and I was throwing away. So they had a little bit better game plan than I did coming into it."
Bundy had been near-perfect before this outing marred his 3-0 record and 0.59 ERA. He took his first loss, giving up seven hits, six runs — including two homers — and two walks.
The trouble started when he allowed a leadoff double to Brandon Lowe. Wander Franco hit an RBI double next. Yandy Diaz singled before rookie Josh Lowe smacked his first career homer for three runs. Bundy was able to pull out of the spiral, striking out his final two batters in the first. But he allowed a leadoff walk that scored on Diaz's base hit in the second and surrendered another home run to Mike Zunino in the third.
Manager Rocco Baldelli said the Rays clearly made a point to attack quickly, as Bundy excels with his offspeed pitches the deeper he goes into counts. So when the Rays saw a first-pitch fastball, they pounced. For the most part, Bundy said he felt good about his pitch location and just "ran into some bad luck."
Bundy, though, did recalibrate and start pitching more inside, which helped him accumulate seven strikeouts and kept the Rays hitless and scoreless for his final three innings.
"The biggest part of the game, I think, was actually Dylan muscling up, going out there, throwing six innings on a day where if he didn't, if he was not able to figure some things out and give us some innings, we would've been in a difficult spot," Baldelli said. "We would've been having to throw a handful of our relievers in this game, and guys we didn't want to throw in this game. He didn't want out of the ballgame. He wanted to keep pitching. It was a relatively good thing to see him go out there and get outs as the game went on."
For as porous as Bundy was to start, Corey Kluber was staunch. He effectively shut down the Twins' lineup to earn the victory. The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner held the Twins hitless until the fourth inning, when he pelted Byron Buxton with a pitch before Carlos Correa singled to send Buxton home. Kluber went six innings, giving up only that one hit and run, and struck out six.
"[It] was a tough game for all of us. We tried to battle, but it was tough," Correa said. "Obviously, they've got a great pitching staff. We all know that. They play really solid defense. … [We've] got to go back out there [Saturday], stay aggressive, try to score early and give our pitcher a good lead early."
While he didn't tally a hit in his three trips to the plate, Gary Sanchez did make his return to the lineup for the first time since April 20. Baldelli said the catcher is still a little hampered throwing but otherwise came out of the game fine.
The same cannot be said for the Twins' victorious string, which at least died a mercifully swift death.
"It was 11 pitches, I think, and we were pretty far behind," Baldelli said. "… It's going to be uphill sledding at that point."
