Kick save, and a beauty

Posted Mar 26, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Mar 26, 2008 at 01:25 PM

FORT MYERS—You see some things in spring training you’ll never see anywhere else, and Livan Hernandez just came up with one of those plays.

Elliot Johnson led off the third by trying to bunt down the first-base line. He kept it close to the line and it rolled down close to the bag. Morneau went to cover the bag and Hernandez moved his considerable bulk over toward the ball. Seeing that he wouldn’t be able to scoop it up in time to get Johnson, Hernandez instead kicked the ball, right on the toe, and it went straight into Morneau’s glove.

Your average, everyday 1-3 putout. Unbelievable.

Of course, the Twins followed it up with a defensive goof. Iwamura hammered one to center and Carlos Gomez turned around about four different ways trying unsuccessfully to find it. Aki cruised into third with a triple and Bartlett followed with a single to score him. It’s 2-1 Twins.

Updating, 1:55 Joe Maddon talked proudly this morning about yesterday’s game, in which the Rays did not walk a batter or commit an error. They’ve made up for those defensive triumphs in a big way today. A Chris Richard error in the first allowed the Twins to score an unearned run, and they got another in the third thanks to two errors on one play by Elliot Johnson. Morneau was on first after being hit by a pitch when Craig Monroe singled up the middle with two outs. Johnson mishandled the ball, sending Morneau toward third, then picked up the ball and tried to throw the first baseman out. His throw was wild and went into the dugout, allowing Morneau to score and Monroe to move to third. 3-1 Twins.

Updating, 2:20 Shields’ day is done after four innings. The Rays had planned to scale his workload back, just as they will do with all of their starters in their final exhibition tune-up. His line: Four innings, seven hits, four runs, two earned runs, no walks, three strikeouts, two hit batters. Scott Munter is in now, and whenever he gets done J.P. Howell likely will finish this up for the Rays. They’re still trying to stretch him out a bit.