ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ Evan Longoria is only 30 years old, but it seems as if he's been picking on Twins pitching for decades. He's crushed homers against such long-ago Twins obscurities as Philip Humber, Bobby Korecky and Phil Dumatrait.
And Saturday, he added rookie Jose Berrios to his collection.
Longoria pulled his hands in to reach an 0-2 changeup from Berrios that was well inside, and somehow yanked the ball deep into the left field stands, helping power the Rays to a 7-3 victory. It was Longoria's 14th career home run against the Twins, whom he's victimized more than any team outside the AL East, and they've come against 14 different Twins pitchers. Scott Baker, Liam Hendriks, Glen Perkins when he was a starting pitcher? Yep, got them too.
Longoria has homered six times this season off Twins pitching, tying him with Cleveland's Mike Napoli for the most in 2016.
Berrios made other mistakes, too, in his sixth career start, like the 3-1 fastball that Rays catcher Bobby Wilson lined just inside the left-field foul pole in the fifth inning. But he was the victim of some unfortunate luck, too, like the Rays' fluky first-inning run. Logan Forsythe led off with a single and stole second but was still on third base with two outs. Miller bounced a slow chopper toward right, but it was just out of Joe Mauer's reach and when he blocked Brian Dozier's vision, the ball bounced off Dozier's glove for an RBI single.
Berrios was also charged with a run in the sixth inning that scored after he had been lifted, when Miller stole two bases and scored on a ground ball to short. Eduardo Escobar's throw beat Miller to the plate, but he slid under Kurt Suzuki's sweep tag to score.
The game grew even sloppier from there _ Trevor May threw two wild pitches, the second one allowing Nick Franklin to score when May couldn't reach him as he slid home headfirst. It was May's 10th wild pitch of the season, tying him for second-most in the majors this year, and the fifth time a run has scored on one.
In the eighth, the Rays added another run off Michael Tonkin when Brian Dozier dropped a double-play pivot from Jorge Polanco; rather than end the inning, the play set up Wilson's RBI single.
Minnesota, which managed only three hits and one run in six innings off starter Chris Archer, 6-15, couldn't score off ex-teammate Kevin Jepsen in the eighth inning, but victimized rookie Dylan Floro in the ninth with two runs driven home on a Jorge Polanco single. Closer Alex Colome recorded the final two outs to earn his 27th save in 28 opportunities this year.
The loss prevented the Twins from escaping the AL cellar for the first time this year by passing Tampa Bay. At 44-66, Minnesota fell 1{ games back of the 45-64 Rays.
