Jonathan Aranda, Yandy Diaz lead way as Rays complete sweep of Twins

TAMPA, Fla. - Jonathan Aranda and Yandy Diaz provided the offense, and four pitchers took care of the rest as the Tampa Bay Rays completed a sweep of the Minnesota Twins with a 4-2 victory on Sunday afternoon.

The Rays improved to 16-11, getting to five games over .500 for the first time since July 19, and are an American League-best 14-6 since a 2-5 start to the season.

Also of some note, they are 11-1 against AL opponents and 5-10 vs. NL squads.

The Rays got their four runs in the third inning.

Aranda delivered the first two with a one-out single, scoring Hunter Feduccia, who led off with an infield single, went to second on an errant throw and third on a single by Chandler Simpson; and Simpson, who moved onto scoring position by stealing second.

That gave Aranda 23 RBIs, second most in the AL.

Diaz then extended the lead to 4-0 with a homer to right, his fourth of the season.

The hit was the 992nd of Diaz's career, leaving him eight shy of becoming the 20th Cuban-born player to reach 1,000.

Griffin Jax, who has been struggling in his usual high-leverage relief role, was used as the opener on Sunday, and it went well.

Jax, acquired in July from the Twins, zipped through a 1-2-3 first inning, then after two batters reached to start the second, escaped with a flyout and a double-play grounder.

Jesse Scholtens, who has been used in a starting and bulk-inning role, followed with 4 1/3 solid innings, allowing a two-run homer to Brooks Lee in the seventh that barely cleared the fence in the right-field corner.

Cole Sulser got the final out of the seventh and worked the eighth, then Bryan Baker finished for his sixth save.

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This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 2:23 PM.