Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Tampa Bay 12, Minnesota 5
When: 1:10 PM ET, Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Where: Target Field, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Temperature: 82°
Umpires: Home - Gary Darling, 1B - Bruce Dreckman, 2B - Chris Conroy, 3B - Rob Drake
Attendance: 39841

Evan Longoria lined a tie-breaking RBI single and Sean Rodriguez capped a four-run rally in the eighth inning with a two-run homer as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Minnesota Twins 12-5 Wednesday afternoon.

B.J. Upton knocked in the second run in the eighth with a squeeze bunt before Rodriguez hit his fourth homer off losing pitcher Alex Burnett (2-5) for a 9-5 lead. Longoria added a three-run homer in the ninth.

Michael Cuddyer knocked in three runs for the Twins, including a solo home run that tied the game 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh. Cuddyer has 10 RBIs in the last five games.

Rays’ designated hitter Johnny Damon left the game in the fourth inning with a contusion on his left hand. He was hit by a Francisco Liriano pitch on the hand in the third inning. Liriano also hit Damon to lead off the game.

J.P. Howell (2-1) retired all three batters he faced, two on strikeouts, in the seventh to earn the win.

Rays’ first baseman Casey Kotchman had three hits, improving to 9-for-20 the last five games.

Liriano, the Twins’ starter, allowed six hits, four walks and hit three batters in 4 1/3 innings as the Rays built a 5-2 lead.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Tampa Bay   Minnesota
Wade Davis Player Francisco Liriano
No Decision W/L No Decision
5.0 IP 4.1
1 Strikeouts 4
9 Hits 6
5.40 ERA 10.38
Hitting
Tampa Bay   Minnesota
Casey KotchmanPlayer Tsuyoshi Nishioka
3 Hits 3
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
4 TB 3
.750 Avg 1.000
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Tampa Bay 14 3 24 .359 22 9 12 6 0 0
Minnesota 14 1 17 .368 23 8 5 6 0 0