5-plus hours, 18 innings, a win to spark Rays

MINNEAPOLIS -- It took 18 innings and 22 players -- both tying a club record -- in order for the Rays to end an otherwise forgettable 10-game road trip with a much-needed 5-2 win over the Twins on Thursday at Target Field.

“We got to the point that we’ll take any win however we get them,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “Obviously we’ve talked about the stretch and hopefully we don’t have to continue to talk about it, because that means we’re winning games and this is a step in the right direction. … It’ll be a later flight, but it’ll be a happier flight getting home now.”

• Box score

After not scoring for over four hours, Tampa Bay was able to finally get a run across in the 18th inning on a Yandy Díaz sac fly that scored Brandon Lowe, who snuck in under the tag at home plate. Willy Adames and Ji-Man Choi added some insurance with back-to-back RBI singles, but it was Lowe’s slide to the plate that broke the scoring drought.

“I’m kind of glad [third-base coach Rodney Linares] said ‘go,’ because I’m not sure if I could’ve stopped myself from going,” Lowe said. “It’s just that kind of situation where I wanted to test him.”

Cash added: “As soon as that ball left Yandy’s bat, the whole dugout yelled at him to tag, so he was tagging.”

The Rays’ pitching staff entered Thursday’s game with a 4.32 ERA in June, but the unit led the way in the win. After Ryne Stanek allowed two runs in the second inning, Tampa Bay used nine pitchers in order to shut out a powerful Minnesota lineup for the last 17 innings of the game.

Jalen Beeks delivered with 3 1/3 scoreless innings and Chaz Roe and Colin Poche teamed up for two quality innings, but Adam Kolarek and Ryan Yarbrough, who wasn’t scheduled to pitch until Saturday, were the headliners, combining for six shutout innings to close out the game.

“Can’t say enough about Yarbrough and Kolarek,” Cash said. “Probably the headliners and then a lot of other guys pitched really, really well.”

Tampa Bay, which came in one pitcher short on Thursday, used every available arm in the bullpen. If Yarbrough would’ve pitched another inning, Friday’s scheduled starter, Yonny Chirinos, would’ve been next in line to pitch for the Rays.

Tampa Bay pitching recorded 22 strikeouts Thursday, setting a franchise record, breaking the 21 strikeouts recorded on July 30, 2012, in a 15-inning game against Oakland.

The win gave the Rays a much-needed boost heading into a 10-game homestand to finish off the first half of the season. Tampa Bay finished the 10-game road trip with a 3-7 record, but a hard-fought win against one of the best teams in the American League could jump-start the club into a better stretch.

“It’s definitely a morale boost,” Lowe said. “We see that even though we’re scuffling a little bit. We see that our guys on the mound can shut down a good team. We just need to grind out better at-bats and I think this is really going to turn us around.”

Thursday’s game served as the official halfway point of the season for the Rays, who improved to 46-35 with the victory. Despite a June during which they’ve gone just 11-15, they feel confident with the way things are looking in the standings.

Following Wednesday’s loss, Tampa Bay was hopeful that recent failure could help the team reach more success moving forward, and Thursday’s win could certainly serve as the springboard this team desperately needed.

“This is the moment we’ll look back in September, and we’ll get really pumped we turned things around and hopefully it just carries us,” Kolarek said. “It will be the moment we look back on and be like, ‘Hey, that was the turning point.’ Like I said, the confidence never wavered in any of us. We all just feed off each other.”