Escobar Hits 2 Homers, Twins Beat Rays 5-3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Eduardo Escobar homered twice and Joe Mauer had a tiebreaking RBI single as Minnesota beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 Wednesday night for the Twins' sixth consecutive win.
Minnesota has its longest winning streak away from home since a six-game stretch Aug. 14-26, 2007. The Twins are 6-3 entering the final game of a 10-game trip Thursday night.
Escobar hit solo shots in the sixth and eighth innings, with the second one making 5-3.
Mauer had a bases-loaded single and Trevor Plouffe hit a sacrifice fly as the Twins took a 4-2 lead in the seventh.
Rays starter Chris Archer (11-10) left with no outs in the seventh after walking Shane Robinson, and giving up consecutive bunt singles to Byron Buxton and Brian Dozier.
Brian Duensing (4-0) replaced Twins starter Tyler Duffey with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, and retired Daniel Nava and pinch-hitter Brandon Guyer to preserve a 2-2 tie. Kevin Jepsen pitched the ninth for his eighth save.
Archer, who entered 4-0 with an 0.74 ERA in four starts against Minnesota, allowed four runs and nine hits over six-plus innings. He struck out 12 and walked one.
Evan Longoria had his first homer since Aug. 7 to get the Rays within 4-3 in the seventh.
Duffey worked out of bases loaded and two-out jams in both the fourth and fifth innings. The rookie gave up two runs and seven hits over 5 1-3 innings in his fourth career start.
Kevin Kiermaier hit his 12th triple this season and scored to put Tampa Bay up 2-1 on Grady Sizemore's single during the fifth.
Nava got the Rays first hit, a leadoff homer in the fourth to make it 1-0. It was his first homer since last Sept. 14 at Kansas City while with Boston.
The Twins tied it at 1 on Dozier's fifth-inning RBI grounder.
Duffey got defensive help in the third from right fielder Eddie Rosario, who threw out the speedy Kiermaier as he tried to advance from second to third on Rene Rivera's one-out flyball.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Twins: OF Aaron Hicks (strained left hamstring) will likely play in a few minor league games before his expected return early next month.
Rays: OF Desmond Jennings (bruised left knee) was out of the lineup and is day to day.
UP NEXT
Twins: Tommy Milone (6-3) will start the series finale Thursday night. The left-hander was pressed into service to help a depleted bullpen last Sunday and got his first professional save by working a perfect inning in a 4-3, 12-inning win at Baltimore.
Rays: LHP Drew Smyly (1-2) makes his third start Thursday since returning from a left shoulder injury.
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