ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon liked the effort just not the result.
Chris Colabello drove in four runs and two of them came on a 12th-inning single that lifted the Minnesota Twins to a 6-4 victory over the Rays on Wednesday night.
“When you play a game like that and you lose it at the end, obviously (it hurts),” Maddon said. “We should have won that game. Those are the kind of things that you really have to get beyond. Not from a lack of effort, the guys have been great, the effort is great.”
Tampa Bay also dropped a 12-inning game Sunday, losing 5-1 to the New York Yankees.
The Rays went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position Wednesday, including Wil Myers’ grounder with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth.
“I just got too aggressive on a cutter, and just rolled over it,” Myers said. “Very frustrating. You can’t come through.”
Tampa Bay left 11 runners on base.
Colabello’s game-winning hit came off Josh Lueke (0-1) after hits by Joe Mauer and Trevor Plouffe.
“At that point I was in a survival mode, just trying to make contact,” Colabello said.
Casey Fien (1-0) got the win and Glen Perkins pitched the 12th inning for his fourth save.
Colabello drove in Minnesota’s first two runs with a fourth-inning home run off Rays starter Jake Odorizzi. It was his third homer of the season and second in two nights.
The four RBIs gave the Twins designated hitter a league-leading 26 for the season and tied the franchise record for RBIs in April that Kirby Puckett set in 1994.
“It’s quite an honor when you start getting mixed in with names like that,” Colabello said. “You start to realize how special this game is, how special the opportunity to be here is. It’s certainly something I’ll remember for a long time.”
The Twins tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Eduardo Escobar and Sam Fuld’s single to right.
Desmond Jennings had three hits, stole two bases and scored twice for the Rays.
Matt Joyce drove in the Rays’ first two runs with a ground ball in the first and a sacrifice fly in the third off Twins starter Mike Pelfrey.
Pelfrey, winless in four starts, gave up six hits, three walks and three earned runs in five innings.
Odorizzi pitched 3 1-3 innings, giving up four runs on five hits and striking out five, all consecutively. He gave up hits or walks to five straight Twins in the fourth, and left after Escobar’s sacrifice fly.
“I’d like to see him just a little bit more aggressive with his fastball,” Maddon said.
Brandon Gomes, the first of six Tampa Bay relievers, gave up the RBI single to Fuld that gave Minnesota a 4-2 lead, but the Twins didn’t get another hit until Chris Herrmann’s two-out single in the eighth.
Fuld, playing in his first game with the Twins, had two hits.
Anthony Swarzak and Fien each pitched 2 1-3 scoreless innings of relief for the Twins.
NOTES: Fuld, who played the last three seasons with the Rays, got a warm ovation when he came up to bat in the third inning. … Tampa Bay has a double in all 21 games this season. … Rays closer Grant Balfour worked two scoreless innings Wednesday. He had two shutout innings Sunday. … Minnesota OF Oswaldo Arcia, on the 15-day disabled list because of a strained right wrist, could start a minor league rehab assignment next week. … Minnesota RHP Ricky Nolasco (1-2) and Tampa Bay LHP Erik Bedard (0-0) are Thursday’s scheduled starters.
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