MINNEAPOLIS_Tampa Bay lefthander Blake Snell is considered one of the biggest omissions from the AL All-Star team.
And, on Thursday, he was snubbed by the Kyle Gibson-led Minnesota Twins.
The Twins took advantage of an erratic Snell to run up his pitch count before running him from the game after just three innings, his shortest outing of the season. Meanwhile, Gibson finished his pre-All Star break in style, Eddie Rosario _ who could argue that he deserves a spot in the Midsummer Classic _ belted a two-run home run and the Twins held on during an anxious ninth inning to beat the Rays 5-1 in a game that ended after midnight following a two-hour rain delay.
Gibson used his sider and curveball as put away pitches, stayed out of trouble and sailed into the eighth inning working on a four-hit shutout. Adeiny Hechevarria led off with a double and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly to end the shutout bid. But Gibson went eight innings for the first time since he threw eight innings in a victory over Detroit on Sept. 13, 2016 _ 50 starts ago. He gave up one run on five hits while striking nine to improve to 4-6.
Gibson has gone at least seven innings in three of his last four outings, and has won back-to-back starts for the first time this season.
Ryan Pressly was summoned to pitch the ninth but loaded the bases with one out. Fernando Rodney came in and got a force out at the plate on a liner from Joey Wendle that hit Rodney in the left arm, but the 41-year-old stayed in the game to strike out Matt Duffy for his 21st save of the season.
And the Twins continue their successful homestand, with their seventh victory in eight games. They won the opener of a four-game home series at Target Field _ an opener that was delayed two hours by storms.
Gibson went out to get loose a little after 7 p.m. in anticipation of a 7:50 start, but then headed for the clubhouse as more storms pushed back that first pitch. It's not clear what Snell, who entered the game 12-4 with a 2.09 ERA, did before the game. But he came out misfiring, and the Twins were happy to work on his pitch count.
Snell threw 30 pitches in the first inning alone. The Twins had the bases loaded with one out, but Jorge Polanco struck out and Willians Astudillo grounded back to the pitcher to end the inning.
Max Kepler drew a leadoff walk in the second, Snell's third at that point, and eventually scored during a double play as the Twins grabbed an 1-0 lead. Snell threw 50 pitches over the first two innings
Brian Dozier reached on a one-out single in the third and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With the count 2-2, Dozier took off of third as Robbie Grossman, appearing to protect the runner, swung at a pitch above the strike zone and queued a grounder just past C.J. Cron at first base and into right field for a double. Dozier scored to make it 2-0. Jorge Polanco hit the next pitch into the leftfield corner for an RBI double, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead.
And just like that _ after three innings and 75 pitches _ Snell was gone. He had pitched at least seven innings in each of his four previous starts, giving up a total of two earned runs.
Rosario's home run, his 19th, came off former Twins farmhand Chih-Wei Hu and gave the Twins a 5-0 lead in the seventh. Hu actually settled the game down in relief of Snell. He retired the first eight Twins he faced until Max Kepler reached on an error in the seventh. Joe Mauer led off the seventh with a bloop single to left, followed by Rosario's blast.
