MINNEAPOLIS -- All Steven Souza Jr. could do after making a head-scratching blunder in the outfield was laugh, take his medicine and wave to the jeering crowd.
Oh, and hit a homer.
Souza followed an embarrassing misplay in right field with a towering solo shot to back Chris Archer's 11 strikeouts in Tampa Bay's 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night.
"I'm going to be a GIF forever," Souza said with a chuckle.
Kennys Vargas hit a looping liner into right-center field in the seventh inning and Souza gave chase. But he lost the ball in the lights and then decided to dive and hope for the best.
"I just hit the deck hoping it wasn't going to hit me in the face," Souza said. "I had no idea where it was. When I looked up, it was about 40 feet away from me."
Center fielder Kevin Kiermaier doubled over laughing while watching the replay.
"Good effort," Rays manager Kevin Cash deadpanned. "You're never surprised with anything he does. That's Souz."
When Souza stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, the Twins showed the replay of the dive on the video board and the crowd gave a tongue-in-cheek standing ovation. A good sport, Souza smiled as he stepped into the box, then belted his eighth homer into the second deck in left field to make it 5-1.
"It's all in good fun. You play this game, you're going to make a fool of yourself eventually," he said. "I don't think I've ever gotten a standing ovation for making a bad play. That was pretty funny."
Archer (4-3) gave up two runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings and reached double digits in strikeouts for the fourth time in five May starts. Logan Morrison and Kiermaier added two-run homers and Alex Colome got four outs for his 13th save, winning a battle with slugger Miguel Sano with two on in the eighth inning.
Hector Santiago (4-3) gave up three runs and four hits and struck out six in 5 1/3 innings. Vargas and Brian Dozier drove in runs for first-place Minnesota, one of the surprise teams in the league this season.
ARCHER SHINES
Routinely hitting 97 mph with his fastball and mixing in a knee-buckling slider, Archer set down 10 straight between an infield single from Jason Castro in the third inning and a sharp single from Joe Mauer in the seventh.
Vargas drove Mauer in to put the Twins on the board, ending the Rays' pitching staff's streak of scoreless innings at 23.
Archer now has 51 strikeouts in May and has one more start to break David Price's club record of 54 set in June 2014.
"Impressed by his velocity as well as his slider command," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We swung and missed at that slider I don't know how many times. When it had depth it was almost unhittable."
FLASHING LEATHER
Archer got some help from his defense to put the clamps on a team with the fifth-best batting average in the American League.
Souza made a lunging catch at the wall in right field to take a hit away from Vargas in the second inning and Corey Dickerson sprinted to catch a liner from Mauer off of his shoelaces in the fourth inning.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rays: RHP Brad Boxberger, on the 60-day disabled list with a right flexor strain, is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Monday in Florida.
Twins: Closer Glen Perkins, who has been on the disabled list all season with shoulder problems, threw a bullpen on Friday. He will throw again on Tuesday before departing to Florida for extended spring training. ... Hard-throwing prospect Nick Burdi will undergo Tommy John surgery.
UP NEXT
Rays: RHP Jake Odorizzi (3-2, 3.14) will start Game 2 on Saturday. Odorizzi leads the majors with 20 no-decisions since the start of last season, 16 of which have come after yielding two earned runs or fewer.
Twins: Molitor said that LHP Adalberto Mejia (1-1, 4.96) will be recalled from Triple-A Rochester to start Saturday's game. LHP Adam Wilk, claimed off waivers from the Mets, was designated for assignment to make room for him.
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More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
Tampa Bay Rays
Oh, and hit a homer.
Souza followed an embarrassing misplay in right field with a towering solo shot to back Chris Archer's 11 strikeouts in Tampa Bay's 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Friday night.
"I'm going to be a GIF forever," Souza said with a chuckle.
Kennys Vargas hit a looping liner into right-center field in the seventh inning and Souza gave chase. But he lost the ball in the lights and then decided to dive and hope for the best.
"I just hit the deck hoping it wasn't going to hit me in the face," Souza said. "I had no idea where it was. When I looked up, it was about 40 feet away from me."
Center fielder Kevin Kiermaier doubled over laughing while watching the replay.
"Good effort," Rays manager Kevin Cash deadpanned. "You're never surprised with anything he does. That's Souz."
When Souza stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, the Twins showed the replay of the dive on the video board and the crowd gave a tongue-in-cheek standing ovation. A good sport, Souza smiled as he stepped into the box, then belted his eighth homer into the second deck in left field to make it 5-1.
"It's all in good fun. You play this game, you're going to make a fool of yourself eventually," he said. "I don't think I've ever gotten a standing ovation for making a bad play. That was pretty funny."
Archer (4-3) gave up two runs and five hits in 7 2/3 innings and reached double digits in strikeouts for the fourth time in five May starts. Logan Morrison and Kiermaier added two-run homers and Alex Colome got four outs for his 13th save, winning a battle with slugger Miguel Sano with two on in the eighth inning.
Hector Santiago (4-3) gave up three runs and four hits and struck out six in 5 1/3 innings. Vargas and Brian Dozier drove in runs for first-place Minnesota, one of the surprise teams in the league this season.
ARCHER SHINES
Routinely hitting 97 mph with his fastball and mixing in a knee-buckling slider, Archer set down 10 straight between an infield single from Jason Castro in the third inning and a sharp single from Joe Mauer in the seventh.
Vargas drove Mauer in to put the Twins on the board, ending the Rays' pitching staff's streak of scoreless innings at 23.
Archer now has 51 strikeouts in May and has one more start to break David Price's club record of 54 set in June 2014.
"Impressed by his velocity as well as his slider command," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We swung and missed at that slider I don't know how many times. When it had depth it was almost unhittable."
FLASHING LEATHER
Archer got some help from his defense to put the clamps on a team with the fifth-best batting average in the American League.
Souza made a lunging catch at the wall in right field to take a hit away from Vargas in the second inning and Corey Dickerson sprinted to catch a liner from Mauer off of his shoelaces in the fourth inning.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rays: RHP Brad Boxberger, on the 60-day disabled list with a right flexor strain, is scheduled to throw a bullpen on Monday in Florida.
Twins: Closer Glen Perkins, who has been on the disabled list all season with shoulder problems, threw a bullpen on Friday. He will throw again on Tuesday before departing to Florida for extended spring training. ... Hard-throwing prospect Nick Burdi will undergo Tommy John surgery.
UP NEXT
Rays: RHP Jake Odorizzi (3-2, 3.14) will start Game 2 on Saturday. Odorizzi leads the majors with 20 no-decisions since the start of last season, 16 of which have come after yielding two earned runs or fewer.
Twins: Molitor said that LHP Adalberto Mejia (1-1, 4.96) will be recalled from Triple-A Rochester to start Saturday's game. LHP Adam Wilk, claimed off waivers from the Mets, was designated for assignment to make room for him.
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More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
| View: Play-By-Play | Pitch-By-Pitch | Inning: All | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Tampa Bay - Top of 1st | SCORE | |
|---|---|---|
| Hector Santiago pitching for Minnesota | TB | MIN |
| Beckham struck out looking. | 0 | 0 |
| Dickerson struck out swinging. | 0 | 0 |
| Longoria grounded out to third. | 0 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Minnesota - Bottom of 1st | SCORE | |
| Chris Archer pitching for Tampa Bay | TB | MIN |
| Dozier struck out swinging. | 0 | 0 |
| Mauer struck out swinging. | 0 | 0 |
| Sanó struck out swinging. | 0 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Tampa Bay - Top of 2nd | SCORE | |
| Hector Santiago pitching for Minnesota | TB | MIN |
| Morrison flied out to center. | 0 | 0 |
| Souza Jr. struck out looking. | 0 | 0 |
| Kiermaier singled to left. | 0 | 0 |
| Weeks Jr. struck out swinging. | 0 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Minnesota - Bottom of 2nd | SCORE | |
| Chris Archer pitching for Tampa Bay | TB | MIN |
| Kepler grounded out to shortstop. | 0 | 0 |
| Vargas flied out to right. | 0 | 0 |
| Polanco flied out to center. | 0 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Tampa Bay - Top of 3rd | SCORE | |
| Hector Santiago pitching for Minnesota | TB | MIN |
| Norris lined out to center. | 0 | 0 |
| Robertson flied out to right. | 0 | 0 |
| Beckham struck out swinging. | 0 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Minnesota - Bottom of 3rd | SCORE | |
| Chris Archer pitching for Tampa Bay | TB | MIN |
| Rosario grounded out to shortstop. | 0 | 0 |
| Buxton struck out swinging. | 0 | 0 |
| Castro reached on infield single to shortstop. | 0 | 0 |
| Dozier struck out swinging. | 0 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Tampa Bay - Top of 4th | SCORE | |
| Hector Santiago pitching for Minnesota | TB | MIN |
| Dickerson singled to center. | 0 | 0 |
| Longoria flied out to center. | 0 | 0 |
| Morrison homered to right (386 feet), Dickerson scored. | 2 | 0 |
| Souza Jr. lined out to left. | 2 | 0 |
| Kiermaier walked. | 2 | 0 |
| Weeks Jr. struck out swinging. | 2 | 0 |
| 2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Minnesota - Bottom of 4th | SCORE | |
| Chris Archer pitching for Tampa Bay | TB | MIN |
| Mauer lined out to left. | 2 | 0 |
| Sanó struck out swinging. | 2 | 0 |
| Kepler grounded out to second. | 2 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Tampa Bay - Top of 5th | SCORE | |
| Hector Santiago pitching for Minnesota | TB | MIN |
| Norris lined out to right. | 2 | 0 |
| Robertson lined out to center. | 2 | 0 |
| Beckham singled to shallow center. | 2 | 0 |
| Dickerson fouled out to third. | 2 | 0 |
| Dickerson fouled out to third. | 2 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Minnesota - Bottom of 5th | SCORE | |
| Chris Archer pitching for Tampa Bay | TB | MIN |
| Vargas struck out swinging. | 2 | 0 |
| Polanco grounded out to second. | 2 | 0 |
| Rosario grounded out to second. | 2 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Tampa Bay - Top of 6th | SCORE | |
| Hector Santiago pitching for Minnesota | TB | MIN |
| Longoria lined out to right. | 2 | 0 |
| Morrison walked. | 2 | 0 |
| Pressly relieved Santiago. | 2 | 0 |
| Souza Jr. flied out to right. | 2 | 0 |
| Kiermaier homered to right (376 feet), Morrison scored. | 4 | 0 |
| Weeks Jr. singled to center. | 4 | 0 |
| Norris grounded into fielder's choice to shortstop, Weeks Jr. out at second. | 4 | 0 |
| 2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Minnesota - Bottom of 6th | SCORE | |
| Chris Archer pitching for Tampa Bay | TB | MIN |
| Buxton flied out to center. | 4 | 0 |
| Castro struck out looking. | 4 | 0 |
| Dozier grounded out to shortstop. | 4 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Tampa Bay - Top of 7th | SCORE | |
| Ryan Pressly pitching for Minnesota | TB | MIN |
| Robertson grounded out to second. | 4 | 0 |
| Beckham struck out swinging. | 4 | 0 |
| Breslow relieved Pressly. | 4 | 0 |
| Dickerson grounded out to second. | 4 | 0 |
| 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Minnesota - Bottom of 7th | SCORE | |
| Chris Archer pitching for Tampa Bay | TB | MIN |
| Mauer singled to right center. | 4 | 0 |
| Sanó struck out looking. | 4 | 0 |
| Mauer to second on wild pitch by Archer. | 4 | 0 |
| Kepler popped out to shortstop. | 4 | 0 |
| Mauer to third on wild pitch by Archer. | 4 | 0 |
| Vargas singled to right center, Mauer scored. | 4 | 1 |
| Polanco flied out to left. | 4 | 1 |
| 1 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Tampa Bay - Top of 8th | SCORE | |
| Craig Breslow pitching for Minnesota | TB | MIN |
| Longoria lined out to left. | 4 | 1 |
| Morrison grounded out to second. | 4 | 1 |
| Belisle relieved Breslow. | 4 | 1 |
| Souza Jr. homered to left (412 feet). | 5 | 1 |
| Kiermaier flied out to left. | 5 | 1 |
| 1 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Minnesota - Bottom of 8th | SCORE | |
| Chris Archer pitching for Tampa Bay | TB | MIN |
| Rosario doubled to deep center. | 5 | 1 |
| Buxton struck out swinging. | 5 | 1 |
| Castro struck out swinging. | 5 | 1 |
| Dozier reached on infield single to shortstop, Rosario scored. | 5 | 2 |
| Mauer walked, Dozier to second. | 5 | 2 |
| Colomé relieved Archer. | 5 | 2 |
| Sanó struck out swinging. | 5 | 2 |
| 1 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Tampa Bay - Top of 9th | SCORE | |
| Justin Haley pitching for Minnesota | TB | MIN |
| Weeks Jr. struck out swinging. | 5 | 2 |
| Norris flied out to center. | 5 | 2 |
| Robertson fouled out to catcher. | 5 | 2 |
| 0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
| Minnesota - Bottom of 9th | SCORE | |
| Alex Colome pitching for Tampa Bay | TB | MIN |
| Kepler lined out to center. | 5 | 2 |
| Vargas doubled to deep left. | 5 | 2 |
| Adrianza ran for Vargas. | 5 | 2 |
| Polanco struck out swinging. | 5 | 2 |
| Rosario grounded out to second. | 5 | 2 |
| 0 Runs, 1 Hits, 0 Errors | ||
Tampa Bay Rays
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | #P | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beckham SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 17 | .263 | .297 | .423 |
| Dickerson LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20 | .330 | .376 | .613 |
| Longoria 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | .242 | .312 | .397 |
| Morrison 1B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 19 | .247 | .341 | .544 |
| Souza Jr. RF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 | .259 | .376 | .475 |
| Kiermaier CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 17 | .242 | .329 | .349 |
| Weeks Jr. DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 21 | .214 | .313 | .357 |
| Norris C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | .208 | .279 | .336 |
| Robertson 2B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | .186 | .307 | .314 |
| Totals | 34 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 161 | |||
| BATTING HR: Morrison (13, 4th inning off Santiago 1 on, 1 Out); Kiermaier (4, 6th inning off Pressly 1 on, 2 Out); Souza Jr. (8, 8th inning off Belisle 0 on, 2 Out) RBI: Morrison 2 (34), Kiermaier 2 (15), Souza Jr. (27) 2-out RBI: Kiermaier 2, Souza Jr. Team LOB: 4 | ||||||||||
Game Information
| Stadium | Target Field, Minneapolis, MN |
| Attendance | 20,949 (53.7% full) - % is based on regular season capacity |
| Game Time | 3:04 |
| Weather | 78 degrees, partly cloudy |
| Wind | 8 mph |
| Umpires | Home Plate - Chris Guccione, First Base - Carlos Torres, Second Base - James Hoye, Third Base - Dana DeMuth |
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