There's plenty the Tampa Bay Rays should feel good about from the three-game sweep they completed Sunday in Minnesota.
They can savor the offensive outpouring in Friday night's 13-hit, 12-6 romp from team that only a week ago went 21 straight innings without scoring a run.
They can point to David Price's 15th victory of the season in Saturday evening's 4-2 victory — tying him for the major league lead — or Fernando Rodney's 35th save in 36 chances, punctuated by his club-record 20th straight save.
But perhaps the Rays should feel even better about how they prevailed Sunday in a 10-inning, 7-3 triumph at Target Field.
They won ugly — committing three errors to snap their impressive errorless streak of 10 games, hitting into three double plays and going a paltry 3 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
In other words, it was precisely the kind of game that has gotten away from them so many times this season. And the fact that they pulled it out could bode well for a team that has won six straight with back-to-back sweeps and opens a three-game series Monday night in Seattle against the struggling Mariners.
Of course, it helped that the biggest gaffe of the game was committed not by Tampa Bay, but by Minnesota's Brian Dozier, a doozy indeed when the shortstop made a mental gaffe in the top of the 10th.
With the bases loaded and one out, the 25-year-old fielded a hopper and appeared to have enough time to force speedy Desmond Jennings out at home — or even start an inning-ending double play.
For one thing, Jennings seemed to think he was a goner at the plate and wasn't running full speed. But Dozier, assuming Jennings would be sprinting all-out, never looked home and never looked to second, even though there might have been a play on B.J. Upton to start the double play. Instead, he fired straight to first to retire Jeff Keppinger, allowing Jennings to score the ultimate game-winner.
The upshot: In spite of their own glitches, and with a little help from the Twins, the Rays have something they can truly feel good about now: a genuine hot streak (nine wins in the last 11 games and 11 of 14). Suddenly, they're all alone in the American League's top wild-card position, 10 games over .500 for the first time since June 11 at 62-52.
And if you're keeping track, the Rays haven't lost in six games since star player Evan Longoria, who missed 85 games with a hamstring tear, has been back in the lineup.
What's more, the Rays now trail New York (67-47) by only five games in the AL East, and have finally moved ahead of pesky Baltimore by a half game into second place.
Barely a few weeks back, the Yankees appeared to be running away with the division. But they look vulnerable because of several key injuries — the latest a second trip to the DL by ace CC Sabathia — and that has Rays manager Joe Maddon and his team talking about something that only recently seemed implausible at best: taking the East title.
"Our goal is to win the division," Maddon told reporters after the game. "We want to be in the playoffs, no question. But our goal is to win the division."
The Rays certainly had their moments Sunday. They tagged tough lefthander Scott Diamond for two homers — one by hot-handed leadoff man Jennings in the first and a solo shot by Keppinger in the second — and eight hits in seven innings.
And when starter James Shields lost the lead — yielding a two-run blast in the second to Justin Mourneau and giving up an RBI single to Joe Mauer in the third — the Rays battled back. Scrappy second baseman Ryan Roberts got it going in the fifth with the second of his three hits, a ground-rule double to right, and scored the tying run when Sean Rodriguez doubled to the right-center gap.
Still, the Twins had runners in scoring position in five straight innings — the fourth through the eighth — and couldn't push the go-ahead run across.
Minnesota blew a golden opportunity in the bottom of the seventh, when normally sure-handed Ben Zobrist muffed a fly ball in right and allowed Dozier to reach second to start the inning. Dozier moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Jamey Carroll, but Shields hung in and retired Darin Mastroianni on a shallow fly to Jennings in left, preventing Dozier from trying to advance (the throw home from Jennings would have nailed Dozier easily). Shields got out of the jam by inducing a groundout to third by Ben Revere.
In the 10th, Jennings got the Rays going with a leadoff single off reliever Alex Burnett — making him 9-for-19 (.473) in his last five games. Upton, coming off his 2-HR effort Saturday, walked. And both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt by Zobrist. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire ordered an intentional walk of Longoria to load the bases and play for a double play or a force at home.
But Dozier, playing at double-play depth, had tunnel vision to first on the Keppinger grounder and the Rays broke it wide open on consecutive doubles by Roberts and pinch-hitter Matt Joyce.
"I talked with him (Dozier) about it," Gardenhire said. "He had good thoughts. He knew the runner and the speed at third base. … Your two options are you try to turn a double play in my opinion or go home. But he had good thoughts. He kind of got screened by the runner. And he felt after he caught the ball that (going to first) was his play."
Dozier stood by his decision as well. But in the end, all that really mattered to the Rays was that they'd kept their winning ways going strong — thanks to a revived offense and more of the standout pitching that has carried them, including an easy one-out save by Rodney for his 36th in 37 tries.
Shields, who held Minnesota to five hits in seven innings, was especially pleased that the Rays won the kind of game that so often has slipped away.
"I think earlier in the year, it was more or less that we kept making mistakes throughout the game," said Shields, "We just stayed positive today. Even with the errors . . . everybody was just hyped up and getting ready to go. So I think we had a really good attitude."
They'll try to carry it over to Seattle, where Alex Cobb (6-8, 4.32) faces Blake Beavan (7-6, 5.12) Monday night at 10:10 ET, followed by Matt Moore (9-7, 3.73) dueling Kevin Millwood (4-10, 4.38) Tuesday night at 10:10 and Jeremy Hellickson (7-7, 3.52) going up against ace Felix Hernandez (10-5, 2.74) Wednesday at 3:40 p.m. Offensively, the Rays could also get a boost soon with the return from the DL of lefty slugger Luke Scott, expected to join the team sometime this week.
Just last weekend, the Rays suffered back-to-back shutouts at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles. Now everything seems to be falling into place.
"When you win some games, you believe you're going to pull it out somehow," Maddon said. "There's an intangible that circulates through your body when you believe that you can. We believe that we can. So in moments like that, when you're in the thick of things and making a solid run right now, you almost will good things to happen sometimes."
And find ways to win, pretty or not.
