MINNEAPOLIS _ Brian Dozier pumped his right fist in the air as he rounded first base. It was fitting it was his right hand because he came up with the right hit at the right time to right field.
Dozier's two-run, opposite-field homer broke an eighth-inning tie and lifted the Twins to a 5-3 victory over the Rays on Saturday, rescuing a game that was trapped by laboring pitchers and fruitless at-bats.
Dozier's blow was only the third hit of the game with runners in scoring position for either team. An announced crowd of 27,531 was deprived of excitement until Dozier hit his seventh homer of the season.
The victory moved the Twins back to seven games over .500, at 26-19. Their home record, which has come under scrutiny, improved to 12-14. And the Twins have a chance to win the three-game series on Sunday when Kyle Gibson takes the mound.
Chris Gimenez walked to begin the eighth, was sacrificed to second by Eddie Rosario when moved to third when Ehire Adrianza grounded to first. Dozier got ahead 2-1 in the count against Rays reliever Tommy Hunter, then took a 97-mph fastball the other way. Dozier has been a notorious pull hitter in his career, so he picked the right moment to go with the pitch _ all four of Hunter's pitches were on the outer half of the plate.
Joe Mauer followed with a double to left and scored on a single up the middle by Byron Buxton as the Twins added to their lead.
Colby Rasmus hit a two-out solo homer off Twins closer Brandon Kintzler in the ninth, but he came back with a strikeout of Tim Beckham to end the game.
There was a whole lot of nothing before eighth.
Twins left-hander Adalberto Mejia threw 91 pitches. Rays right-hander Jake Odorizzi threw 118. Unfortunately, Mejia pitched only five innings and Odorizzi 52/3.
That means there were long at bats and long innings as the game dragged through the afternoon. It didn't help that Mejia spent the early innings shaking off catcher Chris Gimenez and causing timeouts for conferences. What was worse was the Twins combined to go 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position, with the Twins going 0 for 7 against Odorizzi.
Then again, Tampa Bay entered Saturday ranked 17th in batting average with runners in scoring position (.249). The Twins were 20th (.237). It's not like these offenses are well-oiled machines. For the first-place Twins, it's a concern as they continue to surprise in the American League central division.
Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the second on a RBI single by Derek Norris only for the Twins to tie it up in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Adrianza.
Norris struck again in the fourth with a sacrifice fly, but Rosario tied the score in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run into the upper deck in right.
