Minnesota 5, Tampa Bay 4
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, April 20, 2012
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Mike Winters, 1B -
Wally Bell, 2B -
Mark Wegner, 3B -
Brian Knight
Attendance:
18763
By SportsDirect Inc.
Twins 5, Rays 4: Josh Willingham ripped a go-ahead three-run double to lift visiting Minnesota over Tampa Bay.
Willingham extended his season-opening hitting streak to 14 games and the Twins beat the Rays for only the fourth time in the last 11 meetings.
Joe Mauer had a pair of RBI singles for Minnesota, which was coming off a four-game split at Yankee Stadium.
Matt Maloney (1-0) pitched one inning in relief of rookie starter Liam Hendriks for the victory and Matt Capps earned his fourth save.
Evan Longoria belted a two-run homer and Matt Joyce had a solo shot for the Rays, who were returning home following a 10-game road trip.
Rays left-hander Matt Moore gave up three runs on eight hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out three.
Hendriks allowed only one hit through four scoreless innings, but surrendered a solo homer to Joyce in the fourth and a two-run blast to Longoria that capped a three-run fifth and gave Tampa a 4-2 lead. He was charged with four runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The Twins reclaimed the lead in the seventh, loading the bases off Moore and reliever Brandon Gomes. Joel Peralta came on to retire Mauer for the second out, but Willingham cleared the bases with his double to right-center for a 5-4 edge.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Rays activated CF B.J. Upton from the 15-day disabled list earlier Friday. Upton was injured in a collision with teammate Desmond Jennings during a spring training game March 14. ... Mauer has driven in 19 runs in 18 career games at Tropicana Field. ... Longoria's homer was his second in as many games and gave him seven RBIs during a four-game hitting streak.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
| Minnesota |
|
Tampa Bay |
|
Liam Hendriks
|
Player |
Matt Moore
|
|
No Decision |
W/L |
No Decision |
|
5.2 |
IP |
6.1 |
|
1 |
Strikeouts |
2 |
|
5 |
Hits |
8 |
|
6.35 |
ERA |
4.26 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Minnesota
|
11 |
0 |
13 |
.314 |
21 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
| Tampa Bay
|
5 |
2 |
11 |
.167 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
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