Longoria hits 3 homers but Twins rally past Rays

[September 19, 2008]  ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Evan Longoria hit three home runs for Tampa Bay but Alexi Casilla went deep in Minnesota's five-run ninth inning, helping the Twins rally for an 11-8 victory over the Rays on Thursday night.

Minnesota ended a four-game skid and pulled within 1 1/2 games of the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox, who lost 9-2 at New York.

Casilla's two-run drive off Dan Wheeler (4-4) tied it at 8. Adam Everett's pinch-hit RBI double put Minnesota ahead before Delmon Young added a run-scoring single and Matt Tolbert followed with a sacrifice fly.

Tampa Bay's AL East lead over idle Boston was trimmed to 1 1/2 games.

Longoria, who returned to the lineup last Saturday after being sidelined with a broken wrist, hit a two-run homer in Tampa Bay's five run first against Glen Perkins. The All-Star third baseman added solo shots off Philip Humber in the fourth for his third multihomer game and Bobby Korecky in the seventh for an 8-6 lead.

Longoria joined Jonny Gomes as the only Rays to hit three home runs in a game in the club's 11-season history. Gomes also did it as a rookie, hitting three against the Kansas City Royals on July 30, 2005.

The first-inning drive was Longoria's first homer since Aug. 5, two days before he fractured his wrist in Seattle. He has 25 on the year.

Dioner Navarro and Carlos Pena also went deep as Minnesota pitchers allowed five home runs in a game for the second time in five days. The Twins have given up a major league-high 33 home runs in September, 18 over the past five games.

It also was the second straight poor outing for Perkins, who allowed six runs over three innings in the Twins' 12-6 win in Baltimore on Saturday. He's given up seven homers in four starts this month, and Minnesota lost three of those games.

James Shields allowed six runs, five earned, and eight hits in 6 1-3 innings for Tampa Bay.

Jason Kubel hit a three-run homer and Joe Mauer went 3-for-4 with three RBIs for the Twins. Mauer drove in the last two runs charged to Shields with a seventh-inning single off David Price that trimmed Tampa Bay's lead to 7-6 before Longoria went deep in the bottom half.

Eddie Guardado (4-4) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory, and Joe Nathan worked the ninth for his 37th save in 43 opportunities.

Notes: Rays LF Carl Crawford, out since early August after undergoing surgery on his right middle finger, probably will not play again during the regular season. The club initially hoped he might be able to return for the final three games at Detroit. ... Rays CF B.J. Upton, who's missed the last nine games with a strained left quad, is improving and could return to lineup by the end of the weekend. ... Twins INF Brian Buscher jammed his left thumb during Wednesday night's loss at Cleveland and is day to day.

[Associated Press; By FRED GOODALL]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.