The Minnesota Twins triumphantly returned to Target Field with a 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay Friday night.
It was a happy birthday for Brian Dozier. He drove in two of the three Twins runs including a solo-home run in the third.
Brian Dozier is celebrating his 28th birthday today and gets a homer to left as a nice present
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 16, 2015
Twins starter Phil Hughes (3-4) held the Rays to two runs on five hits, while striking out three. It was Hughes’ third straight victory. Blaine Boyer worked a scoreless eighth inning and turned it over to closer Glen Perkins for the ninth.
Perkins gave up a couple of hits in the ninth, but got Joey Butler to hit a come-backer to the mound for the game’s final out.
Twins get back in the win column with a 3-2 victory against the Rays. Glen Perkins gets the save, career No. 100. #mntwins
— Derek Wetmore (@DerekWetmore) May 16, 2015
Tampa Bay took the early lead in the second inning on a solo-home run from David DeJesus. But it didn’t stay that way long as Dozier tied it up with his solo blast in the third.
In the fifth Kevin Kiermaier blooped a single into left field to score Butler from second to reclaim the one run lead.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh, when Aaron Hicks led off the inning with a single to left. He scored on a standup triple from Danny Santana. Dozier then drove in Santana with a sacrifice fly and the Twins took the lead.
Boyer and Perkins took care of the rest in the eighth and ninth innings.
The series continues on Saturday afternoon, the Twins will send Trevor May (2-3) to the mound to face Alex Colome.
