Tristan Gray hits grand slam, Byron Buxton injured as Twins beat Rays, 10-4, in home opener

Bobby Nightengale, Star Tribune on Apr 3, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — If the Twins’ home opener in 2026 will be known for anything outside a power outage that delayed the game by 57 minutes, it’ll be a swing from the No. 9 hitter in their lineup.

Tristan Gray, who made the Twins roster as a backup shortstop, hit a grand slam in the seventh inning for his fifth career homer and it punctuated a seven-run rally to lift the Twins to a 10-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays at Target Field.

Gray pulled a cutter from Rays reliever Yoendrys Gómez just over the tall wall in right field. Gray, who appeared in 30 games with the Rays last year, let out a yell as he rounded first base, then again after he crossed home plate.

A home-opening win avoided punchlines after a power outage disrupted pregame activities at Target Field. Most concession stands had to close because their cash registers didn’t work. Fans had to wait outside gates because the outage apparently affected ticket scanners and metal detectors.

Xcel Energy blamed the outage on “equipment failure along the main power line that serves the stadium,” but the punchlines were already flying for a team that stripped its roster down at last year’s trade deadline.

The Twins finally broke through in the seventh inning after Byron Buxton was hit by a pitch on his right forearm, immediately leaving the game. Third baseman Junior Caminero failed to field a grounder on what was eventually ruled a single from Luke Keaschall, and the self-inflicted mistakes kept piling up.

Ryan Jeffers reached on a ground ball to third base. Trevor Larnach and Royce Lewis both drew a bases-loaded walks. Then Gray drilled his grand slam, one inning after he flew out to shallow left field and didn’t drive in a run with the bases loaded.

The Twins scored three runs in the fourth inning, the one inning when Rays starter Joe Boyle, a 6-8 right-hander, didn’t look in complete control.

There were no hard-hit balls during the Twins’ rally. Keaschall blooped a leadoff single to left field and stole second base. Josh Bell dropped a ball down the right field line for an RBI double. Jeffers added a single, and Trevor Larnach drew a walk to load the bases.

Boyle induced a ground ball against Lewis, what should’ve been an inning-ending double play, but Rays shortstop Carson Williams fumbled the ball. A run scored on Tampa Bay’s 10th error of the season. The Rays have committed an error in each of their first seven games.

Gray, who seemingly always bats with runners in scoring position, followed with a sacrifice fly to right field before Boyle stranded two runners when he struck out Kody Clemens.

Boyle struck out nine batters in 5 1/3 innings as he overpowered hitters with his 96-mph fastball, a wipeout slider and a splitter. The Twins whiffed on 16 of their 48 swings (33%).

Twins starter Bailey Ober, who was pulled after throwing 82 pitches, gave up three runs on four hits and two walks in four innings. All four hits he surrendered were doubles. He struck out four batters despite throwing only one pitch above 90 mph.