MINNEAPOLIS -- Tampa Bay completed its sweep of Minnesota with a 5-3 win Sunday afternoon at Target Field.
The Rays have won five straight and 14 of their last 18. Since June 11 they are 23-11. The Rays had lost 14 of 15 and were 15 games behind in the American League East on June 10. In addition, they have won five of the last six series they've played.
Kevin Correia got into a jam in the first inning when the Rays loaded the bases with no outs. But the Twins' starter retired Evan Longoria on a flyout to right that wasn't deep enough for Desmond Jennings to try for home.
 
Loney, Archer lead Rays past Twins, 5-3
 
That brought up James Loney, and he looked off while missing a 79-mph curveball for strike two. But Loney worked the count to 2-2, then lined a slider into right field to drive home two. Ben Zobrist added a sacrifice fly in the second for a 3-0 Rays lead.
Rays starter Chris Archer proved to be his own worst enemy in the second inning when he threw away Oswaldo Arcia's shot back to the box with one out. Arcia reached second on the play, then scored when Josh Willingham singled to right.
Longoria doubled to open the Rays' third, a hit that tied him with former Tampa Bay outfielder Carl Crawford for the club's career doubles mark at 215. He advanced to third on Loney's single to center and scored one out later when Yunel Escobar doubled to right to put the Rays up, 4-1.
Longoria surpassed Crawford with an RBI double in sixth, and he tied Crawford's career RBI mark at 592 while putting the Rays up 5-1.
Archer escaped a jam in the fifth when the Twins had runners at second and third with one out. He retired Brian Dozier on a pop to first and Eduardo Nunez on a grounder to short. Archer wasn't so fortunate in the sixth.
Trevor Plouffe and Kendrys Morales started the sixth with singles, and they advanced to second and third when right fielder Kevin Kiermaier allowed Morales' single to roll past him. Archer recovered to strike out Arcia, and he had two strikes on Willingham when he uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Plouffe to score. Willingham then grounded out to score Morales to cut the Rays' lead to 5-3.
Archer allowed one earned run on six hits in 6 1/3 innings to earn his sixth win of the season.
Bill Chastain / MLB.com  
 

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