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Twins edge Rays to snap skid

Apr 17, 2008 - 4:31 AM By Anthony Maggio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Carl Crawford was running too fast and was too focused on the ball to decide if it would land fair or foul, so the Tampa Bay Rays left fielder made the sliding catch - in foul territory.

The grab, with one out in the eighth inning, allowed former Tampa Bay No. 1 overall pick Delmon Young to score from third base, breaking a 5-5 tie with what turned out to be the winning run as the Minnesota Twins hung on to beat the Rays, 6-5, on Wednesday at the Metrodome.

Joe Mauer went 3-for-4, scored twice and drove in a run for the Twins, who snapped a three-game losing streak while sending the Rays to their third straight loss.

"I still figured it was just one run," Crawford said. "Hopefully we could come back and get two runs. I wasn't really worried about the run too much, but I understood what I did, but by then it was too late."

Young led off the eighth inning against reliever Dan Wheeler (0-2) with a single and advanced to third base when fellow former Tampa Bay teammate Brendan Harris hit a short fly down the right field line that landed fair in front of Eric Hinske.

Third baseman Mike Lamb followed and hit the first pitch he saw a few feet foul down the left field line, but Crawford chose to make the sliding catch and didn't even try to throw out Young at the plate.

Young backed up Crawford for going after the ball, but also realized there wouldn't be a play at the plate.

"I don't really know if it was fair or foul," Young said. "I just saw he caught it and knew it would be impossible for him to pop up and make a 300-foot throw on a line."

Joe Nathan worked around a Jason Bartlett single for his fifth save in as many chances. Juan Rincon (1-0) recorded two outs in the eighth inning to earn the win.

Minnesota starter Livan Hernandez, who had allowed no home runs and one walk in three starts over 21 innings prior to Wednesday, gave up three round-trippers and walked three while giving up five runs - three earned - on eight hits with two strikeouts in six innings. Hernandez had won his previous three starts.

"Hernandez got a couple balls up tonight and they ended up in the seats, but he battled pretty good for us," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He missed with a couple pitches and I think you see what happens when you miss a play, too. We miss a ball at second base and it ends up turning into runs."

Gardenhire was referencing Harris' sixth-inning error that led to Shawn Riggans' two-run home run, but it was hardly the only defensive miscue in the game.

Crawford and Hinske hit solo home runs in the third and fourth innings, but the Twins tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom half of the fourth inning when Jason Kubel's two-out double scored Mauer and Harris' single plated Kubel.

Tampa Bay regained the lead again in the fifth thanks in part to Carlos Gomez's poor arm. Crawford hit a one-out line drive to left-center and stretched it into a double when Gomez's throw pulled Harris well off second base. B.J. Upton followed with a single to center, and Gomez's throw home was stopped by Justin Morneau between first base and the pitcher's mound.

The shaky defense continued in the bottom of the inning, as former Twins shortstop Jason Bartlett's throwing error on Young's two-out chopper cost the Rays a pair of runs after Mauer had singled home Gomez two batters earlier.

The runners were in scoring position because starter James Shields threw a wild pitch earlier in the at-bat that tipped off Riggans' glove and rolled to the backstop.

"I'm trying to think back if I should've came and got it, but I think I did the right thing I just threw from my heels," Bartlett said. "It caught me on my heels and I had to get rid of it quick and just threw it in the ground."

Bartlett was bailed out by Harris in the sixth inning.

Harris's fielding error of Hinske's soft grounder led to Riggans' two-run homer off Hernandez to knot the score at 5-5.

Hernandez got out of the inning and Dennys Reyes, Rincon and Nathan kept the Rays off the board the rest of the way.

Shields lasted just five innings, giving up five runs - three earned - while tying his season high for hits allowed (8) and strikeouts (5). He had allowed two earned runs in his first three starts this year.

"I thought his stuff was good," Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said. "He made some mistakes that cost him some pitches, but that's going to happen in the course of a game. You're not going to be perfect. He got to 95 or 96 pitches after five and I just did not want to extend him."

Kurt Birkins threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings after being activated from the disabled list before the game, but Wheeler allowed a run on three hits in 1 2/3 innings to lose for the second time in his last three appearances.

Crawford, Hinske, Riggans and Upton all had two hits for Tampa Bay, which lost for the 12th time in its last 14 games at the Metrodome.