MINNEAPOLIS _ Two runners thrown out at the plate, and 17 more of them left on base. The lack of another clutch hit, another stride around the bases or perhaps another arm in the bullpen cost the Twins their shot at a series-winning victory over the Rays. It also cost them a lot of extra baseball.
Evan Longoria and Logan Morrison smacked back-to-back home runs off Hector Santiago _ Minnesota's eighth pitcher of the game, one who threw 101 pitches two nights earlier _ and the Rays won the longest game ever played in the state of Minnesota on Sunday, 8-6 in 15 innings.
The long home runs, which came on Santiago's second and third pitch of the inning, ended a game full of missed opportunities by both teams. And at six hours, 26 minutes, it eclipsed a six-hour, 17-minute game on Aug. 31, 1993, a 5-4, 22-inning win over Cleveland in the Metrodome, as the longest home game in franchise history. It's also the second-longest game anywhere in franchise history.
It felt like the Twins lacked a clutch hit all weekend. But in retrospect, they made a lot out of the few they got.
Joe Mauer homered to complete the Twins' comeback from an early deficit, Brian Dozier broke an eighth-inning tie for the second straight day, and Robbie Grossman tied the game up again in the 14th inning. But it wasn't enough to overcome the relentless Rays, who staged a ninth-inning comeback of their own against Twins closer Brandon Kintzler.
Dozier, one day after smacking an eighth-inning home run to break a tie and deliver a victory over the Rays, had the same opportunity Sunday. This time, he managed only a single, but it drove in Eddie Rosario from second base and put the Twins ahead temporarily. Dozier's big hit was only the Twins' eighth all weekend with runners in scoring position; they batted .206 (7-for-34) in those scoring chances. But on both days, the Twins got a good-enough start from the back end of the rotation, stellar relief work from the bullpen, and the good fortune to send Dozier to the plate with the game at stake.
Mauer wasn't bad, either, going 4-for-5 with two walks, and driving in two runs, his first four-hit day since last Aug. 3. One of the hits was an opposite field home run that landed about two feet over the wall in left-center, tying the game at 3. Mauer became only the second Twin ever to reach base seven times; Rod Carew reached base eight times, on five hits and three walks, on May 12, 1972 in a 22-inning loss to Milwaukee.
Eddie Rosario and Jason Castro collected two hits and two walks apiece, and Rosario scored a pair of runs _ but not on his failed attempt to steal home in the fourth inning on a double steal, becoming the first Twin to attempt the rare feat since Torii Hunter in 2015. Castro, meanwhile, doubled in the sixth inning and scored the Twins' final run when Jorge Polanco followed Dozier's single with a sacrifice fly.
That run was important, too, because Brandon Kintzler failed to pick up a save for only the second time this season. Corey Dickerson smacked a one-out single, moved up to second base when the Twins elected not to hold him on, and scored on Evan Longoria's double into the left-field corner, cutting Minnesota's lead to 5-4. After an intentional walk to Logan Morrison, Steven Souza singled to right field, and Longoria got his foot on the plate just ahead of Jason Castro's tag for the tying run, though it took a video replay to confirm that Longoria's front foot had not bounced over the plate.
Kyle Gibson, meanwhile, probably was effective enough to keep his spot in the starting rotation, though it didn't look like it at first. Six batters into his latest "last chance," Gibson had allowed two runs on two hits and two walks. But the veteran right-hander, trying to demonstrate he can command the strike zone well enough to avoid another demotion to the minors, found his effectiveness after that, facing the minimum three batters in each of the next three innings.
A pair of two-out hits, combined with Max Kepler's error fielding a Kevin Kiermaier double cost Gibson an unearned run in the fifth inning, but his final numbers were respectable: 5 1/3 innings, three runs, five hits, four walks and four strikeouts. With Phil Hughes on the disabled list, it appears likely that the Twins will stick with the 29-year-old Gibson, and send him to the mound Friday in Anaheim.
