Minnesota has given up a lot of home runs this month and that didn’t stop against Tampa Bay, although the losing did.
Despite giving up five homers in a game for the second time in five days, including three to rookie Evan Longoria, the Twins used a five-run ninth inning to rally for an 11-8 victory over the Rays on Thursday night.
The win ended a four-game losing streak and coupled with Chicago’s 9-2 loss to New York, it moved the Twins within 1 1/2 games of the first-place White Sox in the AL Central.
“We can’t seem to keep the ball in the ballpark, and we didn’t do a good job of it tonight,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “But our guys never quit. … There at the end, Alexi put one in the seats and the rest of the guys did their thing.”
Alexi Casilla hit a two-run homer off Dan Wheeler (5-6) in the ninth that tied it at 8. With two runners on, pinch-hitter Adam Everett squared to bunt, pulled his bat back and ripped an RBI double to break the tie. Minnesota added two more runs and the AL East-leading Rays lost for just the second time in 79 games when trailing after eight innings.
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“I still like our position, absolutely,” Wheeler said. “It’s just a difficult one to swallow. That’s all you can say.”
In other AL games on Thursday, it was Los Angeles 6, Oakland 4; Toronto 3, Baltimore 2; and Kansas City 12, Seattle 0.
Longoria, who returned to the lineup last Saturday after being sidelined since Aug. 7 with a broken wrist, hit a two-run homer in a five-run first against Glen Perkins. The All-Star third baseman added solo shots off Philip Humber in the fourth and Bobby Korecky in the seventh.
Dioner Navarro and Carlos Pena also went deep for the Rays. The Twins have given up a major league-high 33 home runs in September, 18 over the past five games.
Longoria joined Jonny Gomes as the only Rays to hit three home runs in a game in the club’s 11-season history. Gomes also did it as a rookie, hitting three against Kansas City on July 30, 2005.
“Obviously I’m pretty happy about my performance, but not the outcome,” Longoria said. “I expect us to bounce back. We’ve been doing it all along. Win or loss, it’s pretty much 15 minutes of celebration or 15 minutes of having your head down and figuring out what you can do tomorrow to help the team.”
remaining three games in this series.
Jason Kubel hit a three-run homer and Joe Mauer went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for the Twins. Eddie Guardado (4-4) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory, and Joe Nathan worked the ninth for his 37th save.
Yankees 9, White Sox 2
Bobby Abreu homered twice and drove in six runs at Yankee Stadium, and Mike Mussina kept alive his chances for his first 20-win season.
Abreu picked on a familiar victim, homering twice off Javier Vazquez (12-14). Abreu has nine homers in 71 at-bats against Vazquez. Abreu also had a two-run single and an RBI grounder.
Mussina (18-9) earned his 268th win, tying Hall of Famer Jim Palmer for 33rd on the career list. He gave up one run and five hits in six-plus innings, and has starts left at Toronto and Boston.
Angels 6, Athletics 4
Kendry Morales, Mike Napoli and Brandon Wood hit home runs in a span of four pitches from Keith Foulke in the seventh inning and visiting Los Angeles avoided a three-game sweep.
The Angels hit three straight homers for the first time since May 24, 2004, at Toronto, helping Joe Saunders (16-7) win his second straight decision. He allowed six hits in seven scoreless innings.
Oakland, which had a four-game winning streak snapped, scored all their runs in the bottom of the ninth.
Blue Jays 3, Orioles 2
uns in the sixth inning for Toronto. Jesse Litsch (12-8) worked six innings at home to win for the third time in four starts, allowing two runs and four hits.
The last-place Orioles have lost 19 of 22 games and dropped their past nine series overall. Baltimore has gone 2-17 in its past 19 one-run games after starting the season 18-10 in such contests.
Royals 12, Mariners 0
Zack Greinke (12-10) and two relievers combined on a three-hitter and Mike Aviles hit a three-run homer, helping the Royals complete their first four-game sweep of Seattle in 19 years.
Kansas City led 9-0 after four innings, roughing up Ryan Feierabend (1-4). The Royals had at least 10 hits (13) for the sixth time during a seven-game winning streak, their longest since opening the 2003 season 9-0.
Seattle, which had just five baserunners, extended its losing streak to eight games overall and 10 straight on the road.
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