Luis Arraez shows versatility in Twins' Grapefruit League loss to Red Sox

FORT MYERS, FLA. — Luis Arraez performed his usual tricks on Thursday, but learned a new one, too.

Arraez singled twice, including a third-inning line drive that drove in the Twins' first run, to raise his Grapefruit League batting average to .391. Then he manned first base for the first time in a professional game since 2014.

Ryan Jeffers crushed a home run completely out of JetBlue Park, and Dylan Bundy allowed two solo homers but no other runs in a four-inning start. But Alex Verdugo hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning to score Travis Shaw from third and deliver the Red Sox a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Minnesota.

Arraez began the game as the Twins' leadoff hitter and second baseman. But after three innings, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli shifted first baseman Alex Kirilloff to left field, left fielder Nick Gordon to second base, and had Arraez move to first base, a position he has only played in one regular-season game, and that when he was a 17-year-old rookie in the Dominican Summer League. He played the position flawlessly, except for not knowing where to throw the ball on an around-the-horn after a strikeout.

It was a vivid example of the versatility that Baldelli is cultivating on his roster, just as Arraez's two singles illustrate his still-growing expertise at the plate. Arraez is slugging .565 this spring, too, and his on-base percentage is .440, both best on the Twins.

"He's been getting work over there [during workouts], and he says he's comfortable. We're going to keep getting him out there," Baldelli said. "It's going to be good for his versatility and it's going to be good for us."