Tampa Bay 7, Minnesota 4
When: 7:10 PM ET, Monday, July 8, 2013
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature:
Indoors
Umpires:
Home -
Jerry Layne, 1B -
Hunter Wendelstedt, 2B -
Alan Porter, 3B -
Mike Estabrook
Attendance:
11516
By SportsDirect Inc.
Rays 7, Twins 4: Yunel Escobar belted a go-ahead solo homer and Ben Zobrist followed with a two-run blast in the seventh inning as host Tampa Bay won its fifth straight contest.
Escobar added a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, Alex Torres (3-0) pitched a perfect seventh for the win and Fernando Rodney got the final two outs for his 20th save. Luke Scott also homered while Desmond Jennings recorded a pair of hits and scored twice for the Rays, who are 10 games over .500 for the first time (50-40) this season.
Aaron Hicks was 4-for-4 with three extra-base hits and Justin Morneau belted a solo homer for the Twins, who have dropped eight of their last nine. Minnesota starter Samuel Deduno (4-4) allowed five runs and 10 hits over six-plus innings.
Scott lined a 3-1 pitch into the right-field seats in the first and Jose Molina slapped an RBI single in the second to give the Rays a 2-0 lead. After Brian Dozier’s run-scoring double in the third, Morneau homered to right field on the first pitch of the fourth and Chris Parmelee’s sacrifice fly later in the frame pushed the Twins in front 3-2.
Evan Longoria’s two-out RBI single in the fifth tied the game at 3-3 before Escobar hit the second pitch of the seventh out to left field and Jennings tripled to end Deduno’s night. Zobrist homered to left field two batters later off reliever Caleb Thielbar, who gave up his first run after starting his career with 17 scoreless outings.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Morneau’s homer was the 211th of his career, tying him with Bob Allison for fourth on Minnesota’s all-time list. It was also his first on the road out of seven blasts this season. … Tampa Bay starter Roberto Hernandez went six innings, yielding three runs on eight hits. … Twins C Joe Mauer had two walks, giving him 600 free passes in his career.
Top Game Performances
Hitting
| Minnesota |
|
Tampa Bay |
|
Aaron Hicks | Player |
Ben Zobrist
|
|
4 |
Hits |
2 |
|
0 |
RBI |
2 |
|
0 |
HR |
1 |
|
8 |
TB |
6 |
|
1.000 |
Avg |
.500 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Hits |
HR |
TB |
Avg |
LOB |
K |
RBI |
BB |
SB |
Errors |
| Minnesota
|
10 |
1 |
18 |
.303 |
15 |
4 |
4 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
| Tampa Bay
|
12 |
3 |
25 |
.364 |
16 |
5 |
7 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
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