Today I ventured to Target Field is the home of the Minnesota Twins and the 29th ballpark on my Journey! Tampa Bay Rays were visiting and had done some serious damage on Saturday to the Twins with a win of 19-6! Needless to say there may have been some lingering issues as this game became contentious in the 7th inning!

The game started with some inspirational ceremonial firsts including a young boy who took his first steps outside the hospital after major surgery when he traveled from 3rd base to home plate as the ceremonial 1st run! They also paired children with Twins to open the game and had a few child focused events during the game!

The ballpark has various Peanuts characters statues outside including this iconic ball playing girl:

I remember meeting Charles Schultz when I was very young at a Giants game! He ultimately opened an ice skating rink in Santa Rosa very near where I grew up.

There is a variety of food available including Walleye fish, shrimp boil and turkey sandwiches as well as plenty of bratwurst and hot dogs.

Back to the drama on the diamond… the Rays were leading 4 – 1 until the 7th inning when through a series of comical mistakes the Twins managed to get 3 runs to tie and with a runner at 3rd the pitcher balks and the Twins take the lead!

As the next batter is at the plate and a pitch comes very close words are exchanged and suddenly both dugouts empty onto the field!

Not just once, but twice fortunately no punches were exchanged! In the 8th inning both teams got 2 runs which had the Twins leading until the 8th when the Rays tied. The Twins couldn’t produce anything in the 9th so it was extra innings! The Rays were not able to score in the 10th so the Twins had a runner on second and the Rays decided to intentionally walk 2 players to load the bases with 1 out and Dozier steps up to the plate and hits a walk off grand slam to take the game 11 – 7!