Ranger Suarez completed a rocky spring training with his new squad, allowing eight earned runs over 4 1/3 innings on Tuesday as the Minnesota Twins routed the Boston Red Sox 15-6 in Fort Myers, Fla.
Suarez, who signed a five-year, $130 million contract in January, gave up a pair of home runs among nine Minnesota hits. He walked one, fanned four and finished the Grapefruit League slate with an 11.00 ERA.
The Red Sox built an early 5-2 lead, but Brooks Lee cut the deficit to 5-4 with a long ball in the bottom of the second. Byron Buxton gave the Twins the lead for good with another two-run shot in the fifth as Minnesota scored nine runs over the fifth and sixth innings. Victor Caratini added a two-run blast, Kody Clemens hit a solo shot and James Outman hit a pair of two-run homers in the sixth and seventh.
Trevor Story went 1-for-3 with two RBIs for Boston and finished the Grapefruit League with a .404 batting average.
Braves 3, Rays 2
Mike Yastrzemski hit his sixth home run of the spring and Atlanta held off Tampa Bay in North Port, Fla.
Yastrzemski’s solo shot in the fourth inning gave the Braves a 2-1 lead. Drake Baldwin, Eli White and Jorge Mateo all went 2-for-3, with Baldwin and Mateo picking up RBI doubles. Starter Grant Holmes allowed two runs on four hits and three walks, fanning four in 5 1/3 innings. He finished spring training with a 1.02 ERA as the Braves earned a Grapefruit League-best 21 wins.
Carson Williams — is who expected to start the season at shortstop for the Rays due to Taylor Walls’ injury — and Cooper Flemming each collected RBI singles.
Rangers 4, Royals 1
Jack Leiter threw four shutout innings as Texas blanked Kansas City in Arlington, Texas.
Leiter, who will fill a spot in the back end of the Rangers’ rotation, allowed only two hits and struck out six. Joc Pederson contributed a solo homer in the fourth inning.
Seth Lugo went four innings for the Royals, permitting three runs (two earned) on four hits and three walks. He fanned four batters and is slated to start Sunday in Atlanta. Nick Loftin doubled and scored for Kansas City in the eighth.
