Recap: Tampa Bay vs. Minnesota
Sports Network | September 20, 2008
St. Petersburg, FL (Sports Network) - Carlos Pena drove in two runs and Scott Kazmir pitched six scoreless innings as Tampa Bay clinched a playoff spot for the first time in franchise history with a 7-2 win over Minnesota in the third installment of a four-game set at Tropicana Field.
Fernando Perez and Cliff Floyd each homered for the Rays, who have won four of five and now lead Boston by 2 1/2 games in the AL East. The Red Sox fell to the Blue Jays, 6-3, earlier Saturday.
Kazmir (12-7) scattered five hits, fanned five and walked one en route to his first win since September 4.
Denard Span and Alexi Casilla knocked in runs for the Twins, who have lost six of seven and have dropped to three games behind the first-place White Sox in the AL Central. Chicago plays at Kansas City later on Saturday.
Starter Kevin Slowey (12-11) took the loss, charged with nine hits and five runs over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked three in defeat.
Tampa jumped on top in the third. Eric Hinske led off with a single and Akinori Iwamura walked two batters later. After Jason Bartlett flied out to advance Hinske, Pena knocked in both runners with a double.
Kazmir allowed a single to Joe Mauer, a double to Justin Morneau and hit Michael Cuddyer to start the fourth, but worked out of trouble when Delmon Young's fly out turned into a double play and Brendan Harris flied out.
In the fifth, Evan Longoria's RBI double, Dioner Navarro's RBI single and Rocco Baldelli's bases-loaded walk turned a two-run edge into a comfortable five-run cushion.
Kazmir allowed back-to-back singles to start the sixth, but quickly turned that around on a double-play grounder and a line out to complete his outing.
A Perez leadoff solo shot in the home sixth made it 6-0, and Grant Balfour held the Twins off the board in the seventh.
Floyd's one-out solo homer in the home half put a seventh run on the board, and J.P. Howell hurled a scoreless eighth.
Troy Percival allowed an RBI single to Span in the ninth before being replaced by Trever Miller. He gave up a run-scoring groundout by Casilla before ending the game by inducing a foul out from Mauer.
The Rays became the first American League team since the 1990-91 Minnesota Twins to finish last in their division one year before clinching a playoff berth in the next...Tampa also has a chance to become the first team other than the Yankees or Red Sox to win the AL East title since Baltimore took the crown in 1997.
