 was already well in control on his way to consecutive wins for the first time this year. The right-hander gave up five hits without a walk, and only one run on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Kiermaier in the eighth.Fernando Rodney relieved Ryan Pressly in the ninth to get the last two outs and his 21st save, preserving the seventh victory in eight games for the Twins. The Rays had their five-game winning streak stopped.Snell (12-5) was pulled after just three innings, throwing only 43 of his 75 pitches for strikes. The lefty took the second-lowest ERA in the American League into the game, with just two runs allowed over his last 28 2/3 innings while winning each of his last four turns. Snell was in trouble every inning, though, and found himself trailing 3-0 after back-to-back RBI doubles by Robbie Grossman and Jorge Polanco in the third.The Twins hustled through that inning. Brian Dozier singled and took second on a wild pitch. Then as he attempted to steal third, Grossman swung at a high pitch for an awkward-but-effective hit-and-run. Polanco later stole third base, too, though he was ultimately stranded.Gibson took it from there, continuing his renaissance with his longest start on the 2018 ledger. He lowered his ERA to 3.42, the best of his six major league seasons. The 2009 first-round draft pick has by far the best strikeout rate of his career, too, just short of an average of one per inning.''It's something we've looked for out of him for a long time,'' Twins manager Paul Molitor said before the game. ''I think he probably has more confidence in some of his pitches and has improvement in some of his pitches.'' BACK DOWNThe Rays sent rookie shortstop Willy Adames, one of the organization's top prospects, back to Triple-A Durham before the game. There's a playing-time pinch in the infield, and Adames has been struggling at the plate. Manager Kevin Cash said the demotion ''was a really hard decision'' for the team.''We thought we were going to be able to do a better job of creating a lane,'' Cash said.The Rays used the roster spot to recall Hu, acquired in a trade with the Twins for reliever Kevin Jepsen in 2015.TRAINER'S ROOMRays: SS Christian Arroyo wasn't deemed ready to come off the DL to replace Adames. Arroyo is on a rehab assignment for a strained left oblique.Twins: DH-1B Logan Morrison was put on the DL for a nagging hip problem that he expects won't require more than the minimum 10-day stay. ''It's been manageable and still is manageable,'' he said. ''Just need to take a step back and use the break as some time without missing games.'' UP NEXTRays: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (3-3, 3.35 ERA) pitches the second game of the series, coming off a stellar start against the Mets last weekend when he retired his first 18 batters and finished with only one hit allowed, no runs and nine strikeouts in seven innings.Twins: RHP Jake Odorizzi (4-6, 4.28 ERA) takes the mound on Friday night, facing his former team for the first time. Odorizzi, traded to the Twins in February, pitched six scoreless innings in his last turn against the Orioles for his first win in 11 starts.---For more baseball coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball)
Hot teams Rays, Twins begin four-game series 3h ago• 3 min read MINNEAPOLIS -- Two of the hotter teams in baseball face off Thursday night when the Tampa Bay Rays travel to Minnesota where they open a four-game series with the Twins at Target Field.Tampa Bay extended its winning streak to five games Wednesday with a 4-2 victory over Detroit and arrive in Minnesota having won 14 of their last 18 games to improve to 48-44 on the season. It assures them no worse than a .500 record at the All-Star break."We're getting a lot of buy-in from guys right now," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "We're asking starters to come out of the bullpen, we're asking relievers to open games for us. They all want roles, and I want them to have roles, but they're also buying in." That still leaves them 16 games behind the AL East-leading Boston Red Sox and nine back of Seattle for the final AL wild-card spot -- with equally surprising Oakland in the way, too. Optimism is high in the Rays' clubhouse."We're just getting started," center fielder Kevin Kiermaier said.The Rays will go for six in a row behind left-hander Blake Snell (12-4), who gets his first start since being left off the American League All-Star squad despite leading the league with a 2.09 ERA when the selections were made.He has dropped to second since, .04 behind Houston's Justin Verlander, but Snell is 8-1 with a 1.27 ERA over his last 10 starts"I'm optimistic that things are going to turn out OK for Blake," said Cash, a member of the AL All-Star coaching staff. "A lot of us throughout baseball feel that he's deserving. Saying that, the guys that were selected are also very deserving. It's a product of the system a little bit." There is still a chance he will be named to the squad, but Snell admitted it would not be the same."I feel like being an alternate, it's not satisfying," Snell said. "I feel like I earned it, but being an alternate, it doesn't feel the same." Snell is 1-0 with a 4.41 ERA in three career starts against Minnesota, and he was the winning pitcher when he faced the Twins on April 21, allowing one run on five hits over seven innings in a 10-1 Rays victory.He will hope for similar success Thursday against the Twins, who have won six of their last seven games.Brian Dozier has been a big reason for that success. He extended his hitting streak to six games with a 3-for-5 effort that included his third home run in four games Wednesday against Kansas City. Dozier has a .961 OPS since the start of July."Everything feels good, has for a long time now -- you just ride the wave," Dozier said. "We've played some good baseball here lately. Six out of the last seven. This homestand, coming in we knew we had to do some damage. But still got a little ways to go, couple more games before the break." Another big night from Dozier would be welcomed by Kyle Gibson (3-6, 3.59 ERA), who will start for the Twins on Thursday.The right-hander has been hamstrung by a lack of run support at times this season but hasn't done himself any favors of late, posting a 5.21 ERA over his last three starts.Gibson is 1-5 with a 6.81 ERA in seven starts previous career starts against the Rays. He was the losing pitcher in that April 21 game against Tampa Bay when Snell got the win. Gibson allowed four runs and five hits while striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings.
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