Rays head home for Trop opener 4-5 after rallying to beat Twins in 10

Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times on Apr 5, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — The Tampa Bay Rays have never been so eager to return to Tropicana Field.

After wrapping up a franchise-longest nine-game, 11-night, season-opening road trip on Sunday with a 4-1, 10-inning victory over the Minnesota Twins and a 4-5 record, they headed back to Tampa Bay ready for the most anticipated home opener since the first one in 1998.

Over the 561 days since the Rays last played at the Trop on Sept. 22, 2024, the stadium had its roof shredded and sustained significant other damage from Hurricane Milton, city of St. Petersburg, Fla., and team officials went back and forth before agreeing on a repair plan, the 2025 home season was played outdoors at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field, and massive repair and renovation work was being completed this weekend in advance of Monday’s reopening.

Also in that span, the Rays pulled out of an agreement to build a new stadium adjacent to the Trop, the team was sold by Stuart Sternberg to a group led by Patrick Zalupski and Bill Cosgrove, plans were unveiled to build a ballpark in Tampa that would open in 2029 as part of a massive live/work/learn/play complex, and after a second straight losing season the roster underwent a massive makeover.

With all that behind them, the Rays return to the Trop with a new appreciation of what they had, missed and have again, at least for this season and two more.

“Before the storm, a lot of the talk about the Trop was about what’s wrong with it or what could be better,” Rays baseball operations president Erik Neander said.

“Then you have a storm, and it’s taken away. Look, last year’s experience (at Steinbrenner Field) couldn’t have been any better. But it certainly flipped it with respect to the Trop. It went from everything that’s wrong with it to everything that’s right with it.”

Or, as veteran starter Drew Rasmussen said, “Loved the Trop prior, love it even more now.”

After losing all three series across the mostly freezing Midwest (at the St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins), the Rays are glad to be home, though with two challenging opponents in the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees.

On Sunday, they ensured a happy flight home by rallying for three runs in the 10th. Richie Palacios got them started with a second-pitch homer that scored Ben Williamson, the runner placed at second, and Junior Caminero later drew a bases loaded walk. Kevin Kelly got the final three outs.

Nick Martinez gave the Rays a strong six innings, allowing just a leadoff homer in the second to Matt Wallner. The Rays got even in the fourth when Caminero delivered his first home run, and RBI, of the season.

Reliever Griffin Jax worked in and out of trouble in the seventh and eighth.

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