Twins 6, Rays 2: Glimpses of a familiar offense

This afternoon, it was all about the middle innings.

After going down 1-0 in the second, the Twins scored at least one run from the 3rd through the 8th. A pair of doubles — one nearly robbed by Gold Glover Kevin Kiermaier — each brought home a run in the third. Byron Buxton singled home a run in the fourth, and Marwin Gonzalez and Buck hit solo shots in consecutive innings to push the lead out to 5-1.

Miguel Sano added an RBI double in the seventh.

In the course of this, Kyle Gibson put together an underwhelming but effective start. With his pitch count at 88, and both teams taking their sweet time through lengthy half-innings, Gibby was pulled after just five frames this afternoon.

It gave the bullpen the opportunity to put in some work; Trevor May pitched a shutout sixth, and Ryne Harper served up an eighth-inning homer to Christian Arroyo, and Matt Magill recorded two outs. Blake Parker finished out the game with a quick ninth.

Despite the win, it was kind of a snoozer, taking nearly four hours to play nine innings.

Tomorrow the Twins will try to win the four-game road set with the Rays!

STUDS:

1B Marwin Gonzalez (2-for-5, R, 2B, HR, 2 RBI)

C Jason Castro (3-for-4, R)

CF Byron Buxton (2-for-3, R, HR, 2 RBI)

DUDS:

NO DUDS! TWINS WIN!

ROBOT ROLL CALL: