ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Twins are embracing the nickname, "BombaSquad," to describe their home-run happy offense. Mostly because of Eddie Rosario, who comment, "when everyone is hitting bombas, everyone is happy,' during the last homestand brought chuckles to everyone who heard it.
Rosario is tied for the American League lead with 17 home runs, but sometimes a well-placed grounder is all that's needed.
And Rosario provided that on Friday, slapping a two run single down the left field line with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth to propel the Twins to a 5-3 win over the Rays.
Left-hander Taylor Rogers, in relief of starter Jose Berrios, pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to pick up the win. The Twins snapped the Rays' six-game winning streak while winning at Tropicana Field for just the second time in their last eight games.
The Twins finish May with 21 wins, their most in any month in club history.
Rays reliever Diego Castillo began the ninth by hitting Jonathan Schoop, who was bunted to second by Byron Buxton. Max Kepler grounded out to third, and the Rays walked Jorge Polanco intentionally to bring catcher Willians Astudillo to the plate. But Castillo plunked Astudillo to load the bases for Rosario, who came through.
The Twins led 1-0 after the first inning, but Berrios gave the lead back when he center-cut a fastball to Kevin Keirmaier, who pounded it over the center-field wall for a two-run homer and a 2-1 Rays lead.
Berrios walked the hot-hitting Austin Meadows to start the third and paid for it in an unusual way. Meadows advanced to third on Willy Adames' single to right. Then, as Ji-Man Choi struck out, Adams broke for second while Meadows paused near third base until Astudillo threw to second. Once Astudillo committed to second, Meadows took off and stole home, beating Jonathan Schoop's throw for the 12th steal of home in Rays history.
Down 3-1, the Twins came back with two runs in the fifth to tie the game at 3-3, one on an RBI double by Jorge Polanco and the other when Astudillo followed Polanco with a single.
Berrios was unsteady at times but got Choi to ground out on a change-up in the fifth to strand two then retired the next five batters before leaving with two outs in the seventh.
Polanco was under the weather on Thursday and unable to play. He returned on Friday _ and returned to his role of being an indispensable part of the Twins batting order.
He doubled to right center in the first inning and scored the first run of the game when Astudillo singled to left. He grounded out to third in the third inning, but it took an excellent field-and-throw by third baseman Christian Arroyo.
In the fifth, his drive to the gap in left-center allowed Schoop to score the tying run of the game while Polanco pulled into second with a double.
The Rays had had enough. When Polanco batted in the seventh inning, Tampa Bay went to a four-man outfield with fielders covering each gap. Polanco struck out.
