Rays officials, including Brian Auld (pictured), were among the first to land in Havana on Sunday. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)
Rays officials, including Brian Auld (pictured), were among the first to land in Havana on Sunday. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays tied the Baltimore Orioles 8-8 in the final exhibition game before the Rays’ historic trip to Cuba. Steven Souza Jr., Evan Longoria and Logan Morrison provided the pop for Tampa Bay, as each hit their first homers of the Spring on Sunday.

On the mound, Tampa Bay went bullpen by committee with a series of non-roster players pitching, including Jhan Marinez ― the 27 year-old who is competing for a spot in the bullpen. Drew Smyly threw six innings of shutout ball earlier in the day in an intrasquad game.

Marinez is coming of an excellent 2015 campaign with the Durham Bulls, where he collected a 1.92 ERA/4.38 FIP/.250 BABIP/9.59 K9/.74 HR9 line. The righty struggled with command (especially on his breaking stuff), however,  and the Orioles pounced, tagging Marinez with an ugly 1.2 IP/4 H/4 ER/1 BB/2 K line.

The wind howled out to left-center Sunday afternoon, making conditions favorable for the long-ball. The Orioles struck first when they rallied for a four run lead in the second inning after Pedro Alvarez hit a line-drive grand slam off Marinez. Even so, the Rays returned the favor in the top of the third.

With a runner on, Morrison crushed a two-run no doubter to deep center off starter Chris Tillman. Longoria responded in kind, hitting a solo shot to left to bring the Rays within a run.

Continuing to build. Feel like I’ve been swinging it better the last week or so, said Morrison when asked about his 3-3 day at the plate. Taking my line drives the other way, and I was able to get the head out a couple of times today.

Yet Baltimore rallied for three more runs in the bottom of the third when Mark Trumbo hit his second home run in as many games, and Caleb Joseph plated a run on an RBI single.

A grand slam by Sousa off reliever T.J. McFarland evened up the score at seven apiece.

Tampa Bay went ahead in the sixth on a single by third baseman Kean Wong ― an addition from the Rays’ Minor League camp ― but Alvarez doubled off the wall to drive in his fifth run of the game and make it 8-8.

The Rays were scheduled to leave from Tampa for Havana after the game, so the skippers of both teams chose end the game in the ninth with the score knotted at eight. They will play take on Cuban national team on Tuesday in the first game by an American team there since the Orioles visited in 1999.

This is coming at an ideal time in spring training. Any club will tell you, you hit that staleness of spring training at about the two-thirds point. This is a great time for this to be happening, Rays manager Kevin Cash said.

The New What Next

The Rays have a goodwill day in Cuba on Monday ahead of the game in Havana. Matt Moore will get the start in Tuesday afternoon’s game against the Cuban National Team. Also expected to take the mound for Tampa Bay are Ryan Webb, Steve Geltz, Alex Colome, Enny Romero and Xavier Cedeno. We’ll post the starting lineup tomorrow in a separate piece.

Noteworthiness

― Jake Odorizzi, who stayed behind, will pitch in a Minor League game at Charlotte Sports Complex.

― Some photos and tweets from Cuba:

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