Tampa Bay Rays vs Minnesota Twins Match Player Stats On Jul 12, 2018

Kyle Gibson gave up one run on five hits over eight innings to pick up his second consecutive victory, and Eddie Rosario hit a two-run homer as the Minnesota Twins snapped the Tampa Bay Rays' five-game winning streak with a 5-1 victory on Thursday night in Minneapolis.

Gibson (4-6) struck out nine and didn't walk a batter as the Twins won for the seventh time in eight games. Fernando Rodney, summoned with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth inning, got the final two outs for his 21st save.

Brian Dozier extended his hitting streak to seven games, and Robbie Grossman and Jorge Polanco each had RBI doubles for Minnesota. The Twins chased Tampa Bay starter Blake Snell after three innings, his shortest start of the season.

Snell (12-5) allowed three runs on five hits and three walks with two strikeouts, just the fourth time the left-hander allowed three or more runs in a game this year.

Snell, who entered the game second in the American League in wins and ERA, had won four starts in a row while allowing just two earned runs in 28 2/3 innings and striking out 35. He threw 75 pitches, 43 for strikes, and saw his ERA rose from 2.09 to 2.27.

Kevin Kiermaier had a sacrifice fly, Jake Bauers finished with three hits and Wilson Ramos had two hits for the Rays.

Following a two-hour rain delay to start the game, Snell struggled with his control, yielding two walks and a Rosario single to load the bases with one out in the first. However, he bounced back to strike out Polanco and got Willians Astudillo to ground out to end the 30-pitch inning.

Snell wasn't as fortunate in the second inning, issuing a leadoff walk to Max Kepler, who then went to third on a single by Ehire Adrianza and scored on Bobby Wilson's double-play grounder.

The Twins parlayed three consecutive hits into a 3-0 lead in the third. Dozier singled with one out, went to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a double to right by Grossman. Polanco followed on the next pitch with a line-drive double to left to knock in Grossman.

Rosario made it 5-0 with his 19th homer of the season in the seventh off reliever Chih-Wei Hu, driving in Joe Mauer, who had blooped a single to left.

The Rays cut it to 5-1 in the eighth on Kiermaier's two-out sacrifice fly, driving in Adeiny Hechavarria, who had doubled.

Tampa Bay loaded the bases with one out in the ninth with singles by Bauers and C.J. Cron sandwiched around a walk to Ramos off reliever Ryan Pressly. Rodney then knocked down a comeback liner by Joey Wendle to get a force at home and struck out pinch hitter Matt Duffy to end the game.

--Field Level Media