Tampa Bay bats its way to 11-4 victory over Twins

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — After Twins starter Randy Dobnak went seven settled-down innings Friday in his injury comeback, manager Rocco Baldelli vowed his team's starters would stay on the mound longer to protect the bullpen.

Saturday's starter Andrew Albers lasted all of three innings in an 11-4 loss at Tampa Bay.

By the time he left after those three innings, the Twins trailed 9-0 and Albers allowed four of a Rays franchise-record-tying six home runs. His replacement, Ian Gibaut, allowed two more homers in the fourth.

Albers was called Saturday for not one, but two, rare balks, although the first inning's was rescinded.

Albers deemed the balks "some miscommunication and confusion on my part" that included misunderstanding with two umpires whether he was throwing from the windup or the stretch.

"I've played a fair bit of baseball in a lot of different places and it's the first time I've run into that," Albers said. "Obviously, that's not what determined the game. I have to be better than what I was."

When it was all done, the Twins used five pitchers and lost their fourth consecutive game and fifth in the past six. This time, the East Division-leading and defending American League champion Rays thumped them.

This time, he allowed two runs in the first, five in the second and two more in the third before Gibaut entered and gave up homers to former Twin Nelson Cruz and Brandon Lowe in the very next inning

BOXSCORE: Tampa Bay 11, Twins 4

All five runs in the second inning came after Albers got the first two batters out.

"You have to find a way to get through that inning," Albers said. "I just didn't make enough pitches. I needed to make one more pitch. I wasn't able to do that and that was the game right there. It got out of hand in a hurry."

All the Twins mustered were those four runs that included Miguel Sano's 24^th homer in the fourth inning and Jorge Polanco's two-run shot (his 26^th) in the fifth.

Sano sore

Sano left in the fifth inning after he collided with Rays batter Mike Zunino on the base path while Sano tracked a pop-up against the Tropicana Field dome. The team termed it a left shoulder contusion.

Baldelli called Sano a "little bit sore still" but said he didn't think it will warrant injury-list discussion.

"Those are two big men colliding right there," Baldelli said. "We'll see how he is. Miggy rarely complains about anything physically. He just plays. He's a pretty durable guy."

Seeking a groove

Baldelli said he didn't know whether the hand injury would keep Larnach from returning to the Twins this season.

"We've talked about him getting into a groove and he's still working to get into that groove," Baldelli said. "Let's get him healthy and let's get him swinging the bat like he can and then we can start talking other conversations."

Pitching plans

The Twins will pitch Bailey Ober tag-teamed with healing Michael Pineda in Monday's series opener at Cleveland. Baldelli hopes he'll get six to seven innings from them combined in a one-two pairing intended to ease Ober's pitch count and bring Pineda back safely from a mild oblique strain.