The Minnesota Twins squandered a big early lead, but bounced back to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 11-7 Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Florida.
It was the fifth straight victory for the Twins, with all five of them coming on the road.
The Twins took an early lead in the top of the first inning on Miguel Sano’s 12th home run of the season – it was a three-run shot.
The Rays cut the Twins lead to one after they scored two of their own in the bottom of the second. Minnesota pushed the lead to 5-2 in the third, but starter Ervin Santana wasn’t able to hold it as he left the game after the Rays tied the score at five apiece.
Santana allowed five runs on eight hits in just 2 2/3 innings. J.R. Graham, Neal Cotts, Casey Fien, Trevor May and Kevin Jepsen combined to finish the game for the Twins.
Graham (1-1), who pitched just 2/3 of an inning, picked up the victory.
Credit also goes to the bullpen, as Cotts, Fien, May and Jepsen combined to allow 1 ER over 5 2/3 IP. Twins have won five in a row.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) August 26, 2015
Sano finished 1-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, the home run and three RBIs to lead the Twins.
But his home run wasn’t the only one for the team. Brian Dozier homered – his 26th of the season. Eddie Rosario also hit his eighth homer of the year and added a triple.
Eddie Rosario is the first Twins player to reach 10 triples since Denard Span had 10 in 2010. It also breaks a Twins rookie record.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) August 26, 2015
But it wasn’t just the home runs, as Eduardo Escobar was 2-for-4 with a two-run double in the game and Byron Buxton also doubled as he finished 2-for-4 on the night. Torii Hunter was also 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Tyler Duffey (2-1) starts for the Twins Wednesday night, against Chris Archer (11-9) for the Rays.
