by Steve Carney

Matt Moore had a tough second outing of the spring, but the Tampa Bay Rays scored six run in the final two innings to defeat the Minnesota Twins 8-5 Tuesday in Fort Myers.

Moore saw improved velocity, but no command, as he walked Joe Benson to start the bottom of the first, then allowed a single to Jamey Carroll.  After getting Josh Willingham to fly out, and striking out Ryan Doumit, Trevor Plouffe followed with a double that brought in both runners for a 2-0 lead.

Tampa Bay rallied in the top of the second, as Yunel Escobar singled with one out, and scored two batters later when Willingham lost a Leslie Anderson fly ball in the sun, which dropped for a double.  Wil Myers then drew a walk, and Jose Lobaton's single brought in Anderson to tie the game.

The contest remained 2-2 until the sixth inning, when Roberto Hernandez walked Plouffe with one out, and two batters later, Dan Rohlfing lined a double over centerfielder Jason Bourgeois's head to bring him in to break the tie.

Hernandez was relived by Matt Buschmann, who was greeted rudely by Rey Olmedo, tripling into the right-centerfield gap to score Rohlfing, and Pedro Florimon capped the inning's scoring withan RBI single.

Tampa Bay rallied to take the lead in the top of the eighth, as Bourgeois led off with a single, stole second base, went to third on a throwing error, and scored on a single by Stephen Vogt.  Brandon Guyer doubled Vogt to third base, and Cole Figueroa's groundout brought in Vogt to make it 5-4.

An infield single from Hak-Ju Lee plated Guyer with the tying run.  After Nick Weglarz struck out for the second out of the inning, Robinson Chirinos drew a walk, and Kevin Kiermaier brought in both runners with a triple for Tampa Bay's first lead.

The Rays set the score in the ninth on a designed double-steal which saw Guyer swipe home.

Tampa Bay has Wednesday off before heading to Bradenton to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates Thursday.