Miranda measuring up at plate with homer that extends rubber game

MINNEAPOLIS -- Royce Lewis’ penchant for homers still occupies a space somewhere between the realms of the extraordinary and the preposterous -- and Jose Miranda decided to join him there for a day.

Down to the last strike in the ninth inning, Miranda took one of the biggest swings of his career and erased a three-run deficit with a game-tying blast to force extra innings for a second straight day -- but the Twins couldn’t quite finish off what would have been their most improbable comeback of the season as they fell, 7-6 in 10 innings, to the Rays on Thursday afternoon at Target Field.

Though the Twins dropped the series with consecutive extra-innings losses on Wednesday and the rubber game, they still wrapped up a 7-3 homestand that surged them briefly back into second place in the AL Central -- and they won’t be hanging their heads after a four-run rally in the ninth that briefly made the improbable seem possible.

“I think it was a really good baseball series. Either team could have won all three games,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “One play in each game really ends up deciding the outcome. Our guys played hard. We fought back again really valiantly.”

That fight came from the continued hot bat of Miranda, who already had a third-deck, game-winning blast on his résumé from earlier this homestand to prime the Twins’ 8-7 win in the nightcap of Sunday’s doubleheader against the A’s.

This one was less of a majestic shot, but far more consequential in the moment.

The Twins trailed, 6-2, heading into the ninth inning, but after Carlos Santana’s leadoff solo blast, they followed with Byron Buxton’s double and Kyle Farmer’s walk to get the tying run to the plate. With two outs, that job fell to Miranda, who fell behind, 1-2, before he laced a slider from closer Pete Fairbanks towards the flowerpots in front of the left-field seats.

“It was a low liner, so I wasn't sure if it was going to go or not,” Miranda said. “I wasn’t sure if it was going to get caught or not. I was praying that it went over [Rays left fielder Jonny DeLuca]. It went over the fence, so it was better than what I thought.”

Having entered the season without a clear place on either the active roster or in Minnesota’s future after a right shoulder issue hampered him both offensively and defensively in a near total loss of a 2023 season, Miranda’s health and swing mechanics have returned.

Miranda is no longer rolling over so many pitches as his swing almost turned over at the point of contact last year with the ailing shoulder; instead, he’s now slashing .280/.317/.477 with eight homers, including an .891 OPS in June, and is forcing himself into a more regular share of time at third base and first base.

After that, it briefly seemed like Lewis played miracle worker again when he lifted a fly ball to deep left-center that sounded like it might have ended the game -- especially since he’d already homered again earlier in the game, his team-record ninth in his first 15 games this season and his 26th in 85 career games.

Lewis’ teammates certainly thought he had done it again, given all that.

“I thought so,” starter Simeon Woods Richardson said.

“I thought so, yeah,” Miranda added. “Every ball he’s hitting right now, I think it’s a homer. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s gone. Game over.’”

But it wasn’t -- and the Rays showed their own fight and execution in the 10th inning. DeLuca singled home the automatic runner and center fielder Jose Siri made the play of the game by drifting way over into right-center field to snag Carlos Correa’s leadoff flyout in the bottom of the frame, then delivering a 90.9 mph strike to third to nab Lewis trying to tag up.

“I'm like, ‘It's going to be a tough throw for him to plant, stop, make a good throw, accurate throw,’” Lewis said. “And I feel like I was fast enough to make it happen and put us in a good position for the next play, but like I said, he made an unbelievable throw.”

The Twins would have done it exactly the same way if given the opportunity again, Baldelli said, but it took one of the best throws across an outfielder’s body the skipper had ever seen, he said, to swing the game -- nullifying an otherwise signature moment in Miranda’s young career.