MINNEAPOLIS _ Saturday's game played out kind of in three chapters for the Rays and had quite the happy ending with a 19-6 win.
They scored four in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead after a good enough but not long enough start by Chris Archer in his second outing off the DL.
Then they gave it away in a rough sixth inning as lefty reliever Adam Kolarek had trouble, allowing four runs on five hits.
But they rallied back with five runs in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings to break it open. The Twins used infielder Willians Astudillo to pitch the ninth. It was the first time in franchise history the Rays scored five or more runs in three consecutive innings.
They became the seventh team in the live ball era (since 1920) to do so, and the first since the 1991 Giants, per Stats LLC.
If there was a key hit, it probably came during the seventh-inning sequence when the Rays rallied quickly back from the 6-4 deficit.
Speedy Mallex Smith drew a leadoff walk, then Adeiny Hechavarria, Kevin Kiermaier and Matt Duffy delivered consecutive singles to tie it. After a force out and a wild pitch, Kiermaier scored on a Jesus Sucre sac fly to shallow right field to put the Rays ahead to stay.
The win came after losses to the Twins in the first two games of the series, and guarantees the Rays will have a winning record at the All-Star break, 49-46 going into Sunday's finale.
The Rays had two players leave the game with injuries. Wilson Ramos, who is slated to be the starting catcher in Tuesday's All-Star game exited with left hamstring tightness after pulling up running out a ground ball. Third baseman Matt Duffy did not take the field after rolling his right ankle during an eighth-inning at-bat.
Archer worked 41/3 innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits, throwing 93 pitches (59 strikes).
