ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Trevor Larnach and Brooks Lee homered to help the Minnesota Twins beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 on Monday night.
The Twins earned a second straight victory for the first time since they won three in a row from Aug. 15-17. They remained 3 1/2 games behind AL Central-leading Cleveland and moved a game ahead of Kansas City for the AL’s second wild-card spot.
Five Minnesota relievers combined for 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball. Jorge Alcala (4-3) got four outs for the win, and Jhoan Duran handled the ninth for his 21st save in 23 chances.
Playing in front of a Labor Day crowd of 11,636, Tampa Bay lost for the fourth time in five games.
Dylan Carlson drove in two runs for the Rays, and Jonny DeLuca hit his fifth homer of the season. Zack Littell (5-9) allowed four runs and seven hits in four innings.
