Twins and Nationals Slug Their Way to an 8-8 Tie

WASHINGTON (Twinsbaseball.com) -- The Nationals and Twins played their final exhibition game of 2016 at Nationals Park on Saturday afternoon, and the two teams found themselves in a slugfest. When it over, they played to an 8-8 tie. The Twins finished the spring with a 19-11-2 record, while the Nationals ended the spring with a 19-4-4 mark.

The Twins got on the board quickly, as Brian Dozier led off the game with a home run, but the Nationals ended up taking a 3-1 lead in the home half of the first against right-hander Ricky Nolasco.  Ryan Zimmerman hit a two-run homer, while Daniel Murphy followed with a solo shot.

The Nats, however, couldn't hold on to the lead. Minnesota scored four runs in the third inning. Joe Mauer highlighted the scoring, when he swung at a 3-2 pitch and hit a three-run homer over the left-center-field wall.

The Nats Daniel Ross ended up having his worst outing of the spring, allowing eight runs in five innings. Three of those runs came in the fifth inning. Eddie Rosario unloaded the bases with a double to right field to make it a three-run game.

By the eighth inning, the Nationals managed to whittle the Twins' lead down to a run. With Trevor May on the mound in the seventh for Minnesota, Ben Revere scored on a single by Scott Sizemore. An inning later, Revere swung at a pitch from Fernando Abad and hit an rbi single.

The Twins open the regular season on Monday afternoon in Baltimore.  Ervin Santana will start for Minnesota.  1:30 pre-game, 2:05 first pitch with Cory Provus and Dan Gladdenl calling the acton and you can hear every game on 1340 KROC AM.