• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Rays take aim at fifth straight win against Twins

Apr 16, 2011 - 2:47 PM (Sports Network) - The Tampa Bay Rays try to make it five straight wins this afternoon when they play the third test of their four-game series against the Minnesota Twins at Tropicana Field.

The Rays continued to swing the bats on Friday, as Kelly Shoppach belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh while Johnny Damon hit a two-run single in the sixth, helping Tampa Bay to a 5-2 win. Sam Fuld went 3-for-4 with a double and run scored for the Rays, who have won five of seven since starting the year 0-6.

"Records are very deceiving early in the season, and that's a team that can generate a lot of different things," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "They started playing well in Boston, and they came back here and got some big hits when they needed to win a couple of games against us."

Wade Davis (1-2) pitched seven innings to get the win. He allowed one run on four hits while yielding two walks. Tampa Bay used four pitchers in the ninth inning, however, and Kyle Farnsworth recorded the final out to get his third save of the season.

Nick Blackburn (1-2) took the loss, as he surrendered all five runs on 10 hits in six-plus innings, while striking out six.

Minnesota has now dropped five of six and will hand the ball today to right- hander Scott Baker, as he takes another crack at win No. 1 on the season. Baker's latest loss came on Sunday against Oakland, which reached him for four runs in five-plus innings of work, dropping him to 0-2 on the year, while raising his earned run average to 6.55.

"I was a couple pitches away from having a decent outing," Baker said. "Obviously, the line doesn't look great, but I made some pitches when I needed to. I just fell a little short."

Baker is 2-2 lifetime against the Rays with a 3.21 ERA.

Tampa, meanwhile, will counter with a winless righty of its own in Jeff Niemann, who is 0-2 with an 8.31 ERA. Niemann was hit hard on Sunday by the Chicago White Sox, as he surrendered five runs and five hits just 2 2/3 innings.

"He was not good today," Rays manager Joe Maddon said of Niemann. "A lot of pitches were up in the zone. ... They jumped on him pretty much early on. He was just unable to make an adjustment. I didn't see it get any better for him there."

Niemann, though, has faced the Twins four times (three starts) and is 2-0 against them with a 3.05 ERA.

The Rays took five of eight from the Twins last season.