FORT MYERS, Fla. -- James Shields joked that he might have to get sent back to the minor leagues following a performance that was no laughing matter.
Tampa Bay's projected opening-day starter gave up 11 runs and 12 hits in the Rays' 16-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Friday.
Rays manager Joe Maddon let Shields face minor leaguers over his previous two starts. But against the big boys, Shields gave up homers to Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel in 4 1/3 innings.
"Joe decided to call me up from the minor leagues finally, and I pretty much didn't help my cause for staying here," Shields said.
Shields was 14-8 with a 3.56 ERA last season in helping his team reach the World Series. But that didn't help him Friday against the Twins with a strong wind blowing out of Hammond Stadium.
"It's garbage," he said. "I don't care if it's spring training or not, it's not a good outing. I guess there's only one positive thing to come out of it, you can only get better from there.
"That was pretty bad, and it's not really me."
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he didn't put too much into the performance.
"Mr. Shields is a very good pitcher," Gardenhire said. "We all know that."
Likewise, Gardenhire has been patient with his own opening-day starter.
Scott Baker also started, but he had better results. He struck out two, walked one and gave up two runs and five hits in six innings to lower his ERA from 8.15 to 6.85.
"It's not about here," Gardenhire said. "It's about the end product. It's about getting ready for the season. He's stepping it up. He's doing something different each time."
Rays outfielder Carl Crawford did something a little different, too. He had an unconventional tag up from second to third base in the first inning. Crawford had to sprint back from third to second, and then back to third, after the fly ball was caught by Twins center fielder Carlos Gomez. He also hit a solo home run in the fifth inning.
"I loved it," Maddon said. "He made it back over. That is ideal. It was impressive. Not many guys can do that."
Morneau hit his third spring training homer over the center-field fence. He was 2-for-3 and is hitting .355 this spring.
With Twins catcher Joe Mauer, who usually hits in front of Morneau's cleanup spot in the lineup, out indefinitely with a sore back, Gardenhire said he's not concerned about Morneau trying to do too much.
"I don't worry about him pressing," Gardenhire said. "I think he's just going to do his thing.
"He has established himself. He knows what he needs to do to get ready for the season. He knows what he needs to do during the season to maintain. He has a pretty good handle on things. I don't worry too much about him."
Notes
Rays 2B Akinori Iwamura played in his first Grapefruit League game this year, having returned from winning the World Baseball Classic for his native Japan. Iwamura went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a triple. "It's an honor for me to be able to play," Iwamura said of representing Japan. "I'm so glad that I was part of it." Iwamura hit .286 (9-for-28) in the WBC. ... Rays CF B.J. Upton, recovering from shoulder surgery, will play in a minor league game Saturday. ... Twins OF Denard Span went 2-for-4 with three RBI and two walks. Kubel went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored, boosting his spring average to .400. ... Twins C Jose Morales, trying to make the team as a second catcher with Mauer out, went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. ... The Twins optioned OF Jason Pridie to Triple-A Rochester. The Twins also reassigned LHP Sean Henn, RHP Bobby Keppel, 1B Brock Peterson and RF David Winfree to minor league camp.
