ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Eduardo Escobar had three hits and three RBIs, Brian Dozier and Ehire Adrianza both homered, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-6 on Wednesday.
Minnesota ended a three-game skid streak and moved into a tie with the Los Angeles Angels for the second AL wild-card spot.
The Twins scored three runs in the seventh to take the lead for good. Dozier, who hit his 29th homer leading off the game, was walked by reliever Steve Cishek (2-1) to open the inning. Jorge Polanco then bunted and Cishek threw wildly past first base, allowing Dozier to come all the way around to score for a 7-6 lead with Polanco advancing to third.
Escobar tripled with one out in the ninth and scored on Grossman’s sacrifice fly to cap the scoring.
Taylor Rogers (6-3) pitched 1 1/3 innings for the win.
Evan Longoria, Lucas Duda and Kevin Kiermaier homered for the Rays.
Longoria tied the score in the bottom of the first with his 18th homer — and first since Aug. 1 — but Adrianza’s three-run shot in the second put the Twins back ahead 4-1.
Duda tied it again with a three-run homer, his 28th, off Twins starter Aaron Slegers in the third.
Escobar’s two-run single in the fifth put Minnesota back ahead 6-4, but the Rays tied it again on Kiermaier’s two-run homer in the bottom of the inning.
Slegers, making his second major league start, gave up five runs and five hits in four innings.
Blake Snell gave up six runs and seven hits in four innings for the Rays.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: 3B Miguel Sano (left shin stress reaction) jogged in Minnesota on Wednesday and is scheduled to face living pitching Thursday.
Rays: 1B Logan Morrison was out of the lineup for a second straight game with a stomach virus.
UP NEXT
Twins: RHP Kyle Gibson will pitch Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series at Kansas City.
Rays: RHP Pruitt, who pitched two-thirds of an inning Wednesday, is scheduled to face Boston in Friday’s opener of a three-game series.
Photo credit – Chris O’Meara / Associated Press / St. Petersburg, FL
