September 7, 2017

No sweep for Rays as Twins win

The Twins’ offense finally woke up Wednesday with 12 hits, including two home runs, to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-6. It was a much-needed win because the Twins regained the second wild card spot in the American League, and have a little momentum going into their four-game road series with the Kansas City Royals.

Brian Dozier hit his team-leading 29th home run, while Ehire Adrianza belted a three-run home run in the second inning. The Twins also got extra-base hits from Eduardo Escobar, Robbie Grossman and Jorge Polanco.

Starter Aaron Slegers did nothing special, allowing five runs in four innings, but the bullpen did. Buddy Boshers surrendered a run, but Ryan Pressly, Taylor Rogers and Trevor Hildenberger pitched scoreless ball the rest of the way. Rogers got the win and improved to 6-3.

The Twins are now 72-67, while the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are 72-68.

Kyle Gibson, who has pitched very well of late, gets the ball Thursday versus the Royals.

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.