ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — After three fine starts and three wins, Kyle Gibson of the Minnesota Twins had two bad innings Tuesday night and it cost him his first loss of the season.
David Price allowed six hits in his first complete game of the season, David DeJesus drove in three runs, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Twins 7-3.
Gibson (3-1) gave up seven runs and 10 hits in three-plus innings. The right-hander had given up just two runs over 19 1-3 innings in his three other starts.
“The kid just didn’t have it tonight,” said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. “They weren’t killing him by any means, but they were putting the balls in the right places and he pitched behind tonight, which ended up costing him.”
The Rays jumped on Gibson for three runs — one more than he had given up in his first three starts — in the first inning. One of their four hits in the inning was Matt Joyce’s infield popup that fell behind shortstop Pedro Florimon.
“I don’t know how you get a base hit on a pop fly to the shortstop. That’s ridiculous,” Gardenhire said. “He didn’t lose it in the roof; he just missed the ball so that’s an error. That’s not a base hit.”
Gibson wasn’t as bothered by the cheap hit as what came after.
“Even then I felt like I was one pitch away,” he said. “I had one out, and first and second. I thought I could get a ground ball. Keeping ’em on first and second, they gave me a chance to do that with a ground ball, and I just didn’t get a ground ball.”
Gibson’s lament was the two runs he gave up in the fourth, after home runs by Brian Dozier and Chris Colabello got the Twins back in the game.
“That was my job to put up a zero right there.” he said. “The offense did a good job of getting us back in the game, and unfortunately I gave up those two runs and gave the momentum right back. I just didn’t execute tonight.”
Price (3-1) struck out 12 in his ninth career complete game.
DeJesus stopped an 0 for 24 skid with an RBI single in the first and added a third-inning two-run single.
Price retired his first nine batters, six coming on strikeouts, before Dozier opened the fourth with his sixth homer of the season. Colabello made it 5-3 on a two-run shot, but that was as close as the Twins got.
Price was coming off a 10-2 loss Thursday to the New York Yankees in which he gave up six runs and 10 hits in five innings.
The game was delayed 1:47 in the fifth when the umpires used replay to review the count on Tampa Bay’s Yunel Escobar.
NOTES: Colabello has 22 RBIs in 19 games. … Gardenhire on the lack of arguing with umpires this season due to expanded replay: “My face hasn’t gotten red, really, one time all year, and that’s not much fun.” Gardenhire does feel that replay will help the game. … Tampa Bay LHP Matt Moore had left elbow ligament replacement surgery and could be sidelined 12 to 15 months. … The Rays activated RHP Juan Carlos Oviedo (right elbow surgery) from the 15-day disabled list. The reliever last pitched in the majors in 2011 when he was known as Leo Nunez and had 36 saves for Miami. … Tampa Bay CF Desmond Jennings (groin) returned after being out of the starting lineup the previous three games. … Twins RHP Mike Pelfrey (0-2) and Rays RHP Jake Odorizzi (1-2) are Wednesday night’s scheduled starters.