Rays 5, Phillies 4
Tampa Bay’s Brock Jones homered in his first two spring at-bats – including a game-tying blast in the ninth – and Johnny DeLuca drew a bases-loaded walk that proved decisive in a comeback victory in Clearwater, Fla. Jones, playing in his first spring game, drilled a solo shot in the eighth to get the Rays on the board, then clubbed another off former Tampa Bay reliever Joel Kuhnel with two outs in the ninth to tie it. Curtis Mead went 4-for-4 (now 14-for-18 overall) and scored the go-ahead run. The Phillies led 2-0 through Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler’s back-to-back homers in the fourth. Starter Aaron Nola struck out six in three shutout innings.
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Nationals 12, Cardinals 1
Keibert Ruiz powered Washington’s offense in Jupiter, Fla., belting a pair of home runs that accounted for three runs. The Nationals broke it open in the sixth behind Paul DeJong’s three-run shot, then Ruiz’s second homer to cap a five-run inning. Nasim Nunez went 3-for-4 as part of the Nats’ 13-hit onslaught. Michael Soroka fanned six over four innings on the mound. St. Louis managed five singles, highlighted by Brendan Donovan’s RBI hit in the fourth scoring Lars Nootbar.
Blue Jays 7, Red Sox 4
Bo Bichette singled his first three times up in Dunedin, Fla., fueling Toronto’s lineup. Eric Clement and Dylan Schneider homered back-to-back in the second, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s RBI double drove in Bichette in the first. Jays closer Andrew Bash fanned three batters in the ninth for the save. The Red Sox yielded four earned runs from Cooper Criswell’s 1 2/3 innings on the hill.
Twins 8, Yankees 4
Matt Wallner’s three-run homer capped a five-run second inning, and Brooks Lee added a solo shot in the third off Yankees ace Gerrit Cole in Tampa, Fla. The two blasts accounted for four of the six total runs scored off Cole in his 2 2/3 innings. Mike Ford and Mickey Gasper also went deep for Minnesota. New York’s J.C. Escarra was 2-for-3 with a late home run, driving in three runs overall. Cole returned to finish the third inning following Wallner’s homer but was pulled thereafter.
