Rays 7, Twins 3 (10)
Jeff Keppinger homered, doubled and drove in the
tiebreaking run with a groundout in the 10th inning as visiting Tampa
Bay won its sixth straight game.
Ryan Roberts had three hits, including a two-run single in the 10th, and
Desmond Jennings homered for Tampa Bay, which has won 13 of its last 18 contests and leads the American League wild-card race.
Justin Morneau hit a two-run homer and Joe Mauer had an RBI single for Minnesota.
After Jennings singled against Alex Burnett (4-3) and stole second to
start the 10th inning, B.J. Upton walked. Ben Zobrist sacrificed the
runners to second and third before Evan Longoria was walked intentionally. Keppinger followed with a slow chopper to shortstop Brian Dozier, whose only play was to first base.
After Tyler Robertson hit Carlos Pena with a pitch, Roberts greeted
Casey Fien with a single under a diving Morneau's glove and pinch hitter
Matt Joyce added an RBI double to make it 7-3.
Kyle Farnsworth (1-3) pitched a scoreless ninth inning before J.P.
Howell allowed a run in the 10th, snapping his scoreless string at 22
2/3 innings. Fernando Rodney came on to get the final out for his 36th
save in 37 chances.
James Shields, who had won his last two starts, allowed three runs (two earned) and five hits in seven innings. Twins rookie Scott Diamond recorded his team-leading 13th quality start
in his first appearance against the Rays. He allowed three runs, eight
hits and struck out six in seven innings.
Jennings led off the game with a homer before Morneau tied it in the second.
Mauer gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead in the third inning with a two-out
single to left-center field to score Denard Span, who doubled with one
out.
The Rays tied it in the fifth when Roberts and Sean Rodriguez hit back-to-back doubles.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Span left the game in the seventh inning
with an apparent shoulder injury after trying to make a diving catch on
Keppinger's double in the sixth. ... Mauer has 1,219 career hits and passed Torii Hunter for seventh on the
Twins' all-time hits list. ... Morneau improved to 10-for-29 with
two homers against Shields; Mauer is 11-for-28. ... Diamond saved a run to end the third inning by snaring Ben Zobrist's line drive, which would
have went into center field and likely drove in Upton. ... Tampa
Bay scored 13 of its 23 runs in the series in the first and second innings. ... Keppinger's error on Josh
Willingham's grounder - one batter before Morneau's homer - ended Tampa
Bay's 10-game errorless streak, which matched a club record. Tampa committed three errors. ... The Rays won the season series 5-1. ... Jennings was 6-for-12 in the series. ... Tampa Bay is 79-43 in August since 2008.