(St. Petersburg) Quebecer Édouard Julien hit a three-run homer and the Minnesota Twins defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 on Thursday afternoon.
Julien homered in the second inning to give the Twins a three-run lead. Matt Wallner added a solo homer in the third against Taj Bradley (6-10).
With the Rays trailing 4-2 in the seventh inning and Jonny DeLuca on third base, Yandy Diaz hit a double to right to cut the lead to one run.
Twins manager Rocco Baldelli then brought in reliever Griffin Jax to replace Pablo Lopez (14-8). Jax retired Brandon Lowe on a groundout to end the threat.
Jhoan Duran was perfect in the ninth inning to record a 22e rescue in 24 attempts.
The Twins (76-64) took a half-game lead over the Kansas City Royals (76-65) for second place among the American League draft teams.
Lopez allowed three runs, seven hits and one walk in six and two-thirds innings of work. He struck out nine opponents.
Bradley allowed four runs, six hits and a walk in seven innings on the mound. He is 0-6 in seven starts since his last win July 25 at Toronto.
Junior Caminero hit a two-run single for the Rays in the third inning.