MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins’ designated hitter of the past returned to Minnesota on Friday, and Nelson Cruz took advantage of a warm welcome back from his former home crowd with a line drive into the left-field bleachers. Four innings later, the Twins’ hopeful designated hitter of the future did the same.

That Statcast-projected 392-foot liner by rookie Brent Rooker didn’t do much to swing the eventual outcome, a 10-4 blowout loss to the Rays at Target Field, but it did give the 26-year-old outfielder and designated hitter a four-hit game. It's the first of his career, as he continues to take advantage of the opportunity afforded to him by Cruz’s trade to Tampa Bay to push for consistent playing time next season and beyond.

“I think I'm very confident in myself and my ability to produce and play at this level, and I want to show that with the opportunities that I've had so far and that I'm going to be given going forward,” Rooker said. “So that's definitely a goal of mine, for sure."

The four knocks by Rooker and multiple hits from Mitch Garver and Miguel Sanó still weren’t enough to offset a tough start from Michael Pineda, who exited after allowing four runs in 2 2/3 innings with what manager Rocco Baldelli later described as a left oblique injury. That gave way to an unrelenting Tampa Bay attack against the Minnesota bullpen as the Rays scored at least eight runs for a seventh straight game. Pineda is expected to require a stint on the injured list.

Rooker roped singles in the first, fourth and fifth innings before he crushed a hanging slider by Tampa Bay reliever Evan Phillips in the seventh to set a new career-high in knocks. All but the first single left his bat with exit velocities in excess of 105 mph, making him the fifth Twins player since Statcast was introduced in 2015 with three or more such hits in a game, joining Cruz, Sanó, Joe Mauer and Byron Buxton.

“I think everyone knows we think Rook can swing the bat a little bit,” Baldelli said. “He can do some real damage, doesn’t matter what level he's at.”

Simply put, Rooker hits the ball hard -- and often. The aforementioned list is good company to keep, too, since it includes two frequent designated hitters from the club’s past -- and Rooker is trying to show that his bat can do enough damage to overcome his defensive limitations.

That bat has, so far, been inconsistent. Rooker’s four hits snapped an 0-for-19 skid dating to Aug. 7, and his 38.1 percent whiff rate entering the game ranked second on the team behind fellow rookie Trevor Larnach. Rooker had accumulated nine strikeouts in 12 plate appearances in his previous three games and noted that early work before the series opener helped him address some of those issues, which coupled with a 3-for-29 start to the year to put his season line at .157/.218/.333 entering Friday.

“It'd be nice to kind of find a happy medium between who I was tonight and who I was the previous three or four games,” Rooker said. “I think that's all part of it, is just finding consistency, kind of learning what that means to me.”

Consistency would help the Twins justify giving him a larger share of designated hitter duties with Cruz gone, as there’s also benefit now to giving others like Mitch Garver and Josh Donaldson time in the slot, and Sanó could factor into that conversation in future years.

Those others can also play significant time in the field, while the Twins have made little secret of the fact that improved defense in the corner outfield has been a priority all season for Rooker, whom they don’t consider a significant option at first base. Already 26, Rooker doesn’t have any physical development left, and the corner outfield will only grow more crowded when Alex Kirilloff returns from injury in 2022.

Baldelli spoke about the possible benefits of shuffling different players through his DH slot moving forward, and that could eat into Rooker’s easiest path to more consistent playing time, which he acknowledges has helped significantly since he was recalled on July 23 to fill Cruz’s roster spot.

In order to keep earning those consistent opportunities next year, Rooker will need to have more performances like this one -- and if not, he’ll hope to be better prepared for whatever opportunities will come his way.

“I need to be able to do whatever this team needs me to be, whether that be an everyday guy, whether that be a guy who plays some and comes off the bench or whatever it is,” Rooker said. “I just want to be whatever this organization, this team, needs me to be moving forward for us to have as much success as possible.”