The Tampa Bay Rays broke out the big sticks on Saturday, hitting four homers and scoring six unanswered runs en route to a 7-4 win over the Minnesota Twins. Tampa Bay got 12 outs from the bullpen, as the team was forced to sit through a 70 minute rain delay.
Down by one early, Hank Conger drove the first pitch of his at-bat over the right-field wall, tying the score in the top of the third.
Unfortunately the Twins took 3-1 lead in the bottom of the third, although Tampa Bay turned the tide in the fourth inning after Logan Morrison and Steve Pearce went back-to-back with one out base hits against starter Ervin Santana. And though Corey Dickerson grounded into a 6-4 fielder’s choice, subsequently putting runners on the corners, Steven Souza Jr. responded with a towering three-run, two-out no doubter to left on an 0-1 hanging breaking pitch.
It was Souza’s 10th homer of the season.
Discontent with a one run lead, Evan Longoria blasted a one out solo shot to left off Santana in the top of the fifth inning.
Homers in 3 straight games. @Evan3Longoria‘s latest found the upper deck.
WATCH: https://t.co/ABc4FG7Gfy #RaysUp pic.twitter.com/rEXsXnzG79
— #VoteRays (@RaysBaseball) June 4, 2016
Longoria, who is on pace to slug 34 home runs by season’s end, has now gone yard in three straight games.
Despite having 92 pitches under his belt, Matt Andriese returned to the mound in the bottom of the sixth. However, Mother Nature sought to ruin his opportunity to collect a quality start, and summoned the clouds on top of Target Field to dump a ton of rain onto the field for the better part of 70 minutes. That spelled the end of his day.
Andriese wasn’t as sharp as he had been over his previous starts, however, he was able to put up a pair of scoreless frames after Souza gave the Rays the lead. That’s more than Matt Moore could say…I digress. All told, the righty allowed eight hits, but did not walk a batter in five innings.
Enny Romero relieved Andriese after the rain delay and threw a 1-2-3 frame.
In the top of the seventh, Logan Landfill Morrison belted a two-run shot off the batter’s eye in center field after Brad Miller reached on a double, extending the lead to four.
Tattooed 438 feet off the batter’s eye. #RaysUphttps://t.co/IuhfQFFDxp
— #VoteRays (@RaysBaseball) June 5, 2016
It was Morrison’s fourth homer, and second in as many games.
Romero came back in the top of the seventh and tossed another perfect frame. True, the left-hander has been incredibly shaky of late, however, you’d never know it by the way Romero pitched on Saturday. He collected whiffs on four of his nine sliders, and overpowered the Twins’ batters with a 97 mph fastball (topping out at 99 mph) around the margins of the zone. If only he could maintain this level of control throughout the rest of the season…one can dream, I’d reckon.
Tyler Sturdevant took over in the eighth, and threw 1-2/3 innings before allowing a pair of baserunners with two out in the ninth. Because of it, Kevin Cash was forced to call upon Alex Colome to close out the game. Colome gave up a run-scoring single to Joe Mauer, bringing Minnesota within three, but fanned Brian Dozier on a filthy slider to end the game and earn his 14th save.
Ballgame! Tampa Bay has now won back-to-back games for the first time in six series (last time came vs TOR May 16-18).
The New What Next
The Rays will look to win the four-game series on Sunday when Drew Smyly takes the mound opposite of Tyler Duffey. Smyly is coming off his worst career start, allowing eight runs on 12 hits over four innings to the Kansas City Royals. All this after he posted a sloppy 1-4, 7.18 ERA month of May. The lefty is 2-1 with a 2.41 ERA in 15 games (five starts) against the Twins. Duffey is coming off a five run, 4-2/3 inning loss to Oakland. Duffey is 7-5 with a 3.71 ERA in 18 career starts. He’s collected 89 strikeouts in 99-1/3 innings, and got a no-decision in a 5-1/3 inning start against Tampa Bay last season. You can read about the pitching matchup in our series preview.
Rays 6/5/16 Starting Lineup
Noteworthiness
— In 19 games since May 16, Logan Morrison leads the majors with a .424 batting average (28-for-66).
— Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) noted five things the Rays can do before this season slips away, two of which being parting ways with Desmond Jennings and trading for Johnathan Lucroy.
— Brandon Guyer has been placed on the 15-day DL with left hamstring strain. INF Nick Franklin has been recalled from Triple-A Durham to fill his spot on the roster.