Tampa Bay Rays stop Twins' winning streak at 6 with 3-2 victory in 10th, on throwing error by Royce Lewis
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - JUNE 19: Taylor Walls #6 and Richie Palacios #1 of the Tampa Bay Rays celebrate their victory against the Minnesota Twins after the game at Target Field on June 19, 2024 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Rays defeated the Twins
MINNEAPOLIS - The Tampa Bay Rays scored on a throwing error by Minnesota's Royce Lewis with two outs in the 10th inning for a 3-2 victory that stopped the Twins' six-game winning streak on Wednesday night.
The Rays, who improved to a major league-best 25-11 in games decided by one or two runs, won for just the fourth time in their last 12 games.
Jason Adam (4-1) pitched a perfect ninth for the victory. Phil Maton worked a 1-2-3 inning in the 10th for his second save, with closer Pete Fairbanks unavailable after the thumb on his throwing hand was bruised by a comebacker the night before.
Jorge Alcala (1-2) hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch to start the inning. He threw a sinker in the dirt so wildly it ricocheted off the backstop and right to catcher Christian Vázquez for a relatively easy throw-out of automatic runner Jose Siri at third.
Lewis, who snagged Siri's grounder with the bases loaded in the seventh and beat Amed Rosario to the bag for the inning-ending force out, fielded a sharp chopper by Jonny DeLuca to his left and sent his deep throw sailing past first baseman Carlos Santana that let Arozarena score the go-ahead run.
Lewis went 3 for 4 with a walk and a tiebreaking home run in the fifth inning that broke part of a videoboard at Target Field.
Isaac Paredes hit his team-leading 11th home run in the third off Twins starter Joe Ryan, who sailed through six innings with a 2-1 lead before a bumpy performance by the bullpen. Ryan delivered another bid to make his first All-Star team, allowing one run on six hits and one walk.
Ryan, who was selected in the seventh round by the Rays in the same 2018 draft that fetched Bradley in the fifth round, was traded to the Twins in 2021 for 55 games of veteran slugger Nelson Cruz. The Rays lost in the division series of the playoffs about 2½ months later.
Rays starter Taj Bradley gave up two runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings.
Lewis hit his eighth homer in 14 games since returning from a severely strained quadriceps muscle suffered in the season opener. With an exit velocity measured at 108.7 mph, this one ricocheted off the ribbon board that fronts the second deck above left field - and appeared to knock out a long section of LED lights that used to depict the rotating advertisements. The red Budweiser logos that were up at the time wound up with a blank black splotch, as did the rest that followed.
In 90 career major league games, including the playoffs, Lewis has hit 29 homers with 74 RBIs.
Cole Sands relieved Ryan for the seventh and surrendered a one-out bloop single to Ben Rortvedt, before pinch-runner Jose Caballero stole second base and took third when shortstop Carlos Correa let the throw bounce out of his glove and into center field.
Yandy Diaz tied the game with the softest of singles, a swinging bunt of sorts that dribbled down the third-base line where Lewis had no play.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Fairbanks played catch without any problems before the game, after his minor injury on Tuesday. He said he feels normal and expects to be available for action by Thursday.
UP NEXT
The Rays will send RHP Zack Littell (2-5, 4.24 ERA) to the mound for the series finale on Thursday afternoon, opposite Twins rookie RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (2-1, 3.29 ERA). Littell made his major league debut with the Twins in 2018, after being acquired from the Yankees in a trade the year before.
SIGN UP: Click here to sign up for the FOX 13 daily newsletter
WATCH FOX 13 NEWS