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 The 30-year-old rookie sensation knocked in four runs, including
the eventual game-winner with a two-run single in the top of the
12th inning as the Minnesota Twins beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-4 at
Tropicana Field. In the process, Colabello tied Hall of Famer Kirby
Puckett for the franchise record for most RBIs in a month (26) with
six games remaining. Oh, and he blasted his third homer of the year
as his mother, Silvana, celebrating her birthday, was being
interviewed on live television.
"It's quite an honor. You start getting mentioned with names like
that, you start to realize how special the game is, how special the
opportunity to be here is," said Colabello, who was undrafted out of
high school, played seven seasons in Italy and didn't play
affiliated baseball domestically until 2012.
Colabello's single off reliever Josh Lueke (0-1) scored Joe Mauer,
who had led off with a single and took second on a Trevor Plouffe
double. Colabello leads the American League in RBIs and is among the
top 10 in several other categories.
"I was battling," Colabello said. "I didn't hit a screamer, but I
was lucky enough for it to get through."
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire continued to marvel at the Twins'
surprise find.
"What a month," he said. "It's a good story. We'll see how long he
can keep it going."
Glen Perkins earned his fourth save. Reliever Casey Fien pitched 2
1/3 innings to improve to 3-0.
Tampa Bay fell to 10-11 in the 4:48 affair. Minnesota improved to
10-10 and can take the three-game series with a win Thursday.
"I went to the go-to, tried to strike him out," Lueke said of
Colabello's at-bat. "It was a pretty good situation for that, and he
ended up hitting it right back up through the middle."
Minnesota scored four times in the fourth for a 4-2 lead, chasing
Rays starter Jake Odorizzi. Colabello tied the game, 2-2, with his
third homer of the year, scoring Plouffe, who led off with a walk.
Odorizzi then allowed consecutive singles to Jason Kubel and Josmil
Pinto and walked Chris Hermann to load the bases before Eduardo
Escobar knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly and Sam Fuld singled
off reliever Brandon Gomes for a 4-2 lead. Odorizzi was charged
with four earned runs on five hits in 3 1/3 innings with three walks
and five strikeouts.
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"We've lost two games here in this homestead that we could've put in
the win column, and those are the kinds of things you really have to
get beyond. The guys have been great. The intensity is wonderful,"
Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "We've just got to figure out how to
push through it somehow."
Matt Joyce had given the Rays a 2-0 lead with an RBI groundout in
the first and a sacrifice flyout in the third.
Tampa Bay trimmed the deficit to 4-3 in the fifth on an Evan
Longoria infield single. Desmond Jennings cued the rally with a
two-out single and took third on a Joyce double. The Rays tied the
game, 4-4 in the sixth by loading the bases on a single, hit batter,
walks and getting sacrifice flyout by Ben Zobrist against reliever
Caleb Thielbar.
Twins starter Mike Pelfrey allowed three earned runs on six hits and
three walks in five-plus innings.
NOTES: Rays manager Joe Maddon said MLB could rectify the erroneous
strikeout it acknowledged to SS Yunel Escobar on Tuesday by changing
his statistics to reflect a walk, which he rightly earned. ... Twins
1B Joe Mauer is striking out 27 percent of the time. ... DH Chris
Colabello extended his hit streak to eight games with a
fourth-inning home run.
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