Minneapolis ? Cristian Guzman’s timely hit in the 13th inning completed Minnesota’s long rally and its three-game sweep over Tampa Bay.

Guzman’s double off Travis Harper scored Jacque Jones as the Twins beat the Devil Rays 6-5 on Thursday. Guzman sent a 3-2 offering from Harper (0-2) into left-center for the game-winning RBI.

Jones reached second on a bizarre ground-rule double. Left fielder Carl Crawford and center fielder Rocco Baldelli converged on what appeared to be an easy fly. But both slowed down and the ball dropped between them and bounced over the center field wall to set up Guzman’s hit.

Baldelli said he lost the ball in the Metrodome’s lights.

“I had it off the bat,” he said. “Sometimes you see it when it comes back out, but I didn’t find it.”

Guzman went 0-for-5 on Wednesday night, but finished 3-for-6 Thursday.

“I had to do something, you know,” Guzman said.

Tony Fiore (1-0) worked two innings for the win as the Twins overcame an early 4-0 deficit. Tampa Bay lost its eighth straight to the Twins, the Devil Rays’ longest losing streak to an opponent.

The Twins (13-14) started May off on a high note after a rocky beginning to the season. The defending AL Central Division champs endured a string of defeats, including a couple of blowouts to the New York Yankees and began the day six games out of first place.

Minnesota's Cristian Guzman follows the flight of his 13th-inning, game-winning double. The Twins defeated Tampa Bay, 6-5, Thursday in Minneapolis.

They looked to be on their way to another disappointing loss when starter Joe Mays gave up four runs in the first inning.

“They didn’t get down because I spotted them four runs early,” Mays said. “They kept battling and that’s the type of team we were last year. Hopefully, today shows the guys that we can still do this.”

Minnesota sent it into extra innings on Bobby Kielty’s one-out sacrifice fly in the ninth. Lance Carter, who blew his second save of the season, intentionally walked Torii Hunter to load the bases for Kielty, who flied out to center to score Corey Koskie. Koskie scored before the Devil Rays caught Dustan Mohr between second and third to end the inning.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve seen that kind of fire in our eyes,” Mays said.

Kielty’s RBI cost Tampa Bay starter Steve Parris his first win of the season.

Parris, who allowed five runs in only four innings last Saturday against Baltimore, allowed three runs and five hits in five innings and looked to be on his way for his first win in his last 10 starts.

“You think you have the game in hand, and it comes to bite you,” Baldelli said.

Coming into the game, opponents were batting only .167 against Mays in the first inning. But Baldelli started things with a double and the Devil Rays reached Mays for three more hits. But Mays settled down after the first and threw six more solid innings.

Yankees 2, Mariners 1

New York — Mike Mussina matched a career high with his eighth straight win, backed by home runs from Alfonso Soriano and Jorge Posada, and New York defeated Seattle. Mussina allowed six hits, walked none and lowered his ERA to 1.60.

On a night when Joel Pineiro (2-2) was sharp for Seattle, the Yankees relied on Mussina’s pitching and Mariano Rivera’s first save of the season. They also needed Soriano’s 10th homer and Posada’s all-around play.

Posada produced at the plate, hitting a tying home run in the fifth, and also behind it. The catcher pounced on Randy Winn’s bunt to throw out the speedy Ichiro Suzuki at second base in the fourth, then threw a perfect strike to cut down Winn trying to steal in the sixth.

Rivera pitched a perfect ninth against the middle of the Mariners’ order.

White Sox 7, Athletics 5

Chicago — Magglio Ordonez went 3-for-5 with a home run, and Miguel Olivo also hit a solo homer as Chicago avoided a sweep against Oakland. Paul Konerko had a pair of RBIs, and Frank Thomas, Carlos Lee and Tony Graffanino also drove in runs for Chicago, which won for just the fourth time in the last 11 games. AL MVP Miguel Tejada, dropped to fifth in the batting order because of his slow start, homered for the first time in more than a week. Eric Chavez also went deep, but it wasn’t enough as the A’s had their season-high six-game winning streak end.

Blue Jays 7, Rangers 6

Toronto — Roy Halladay won his first game of the season and Toronto overcame four Texas homers, including Rafael Palmeiro’s careeer 498th, to beat the Rangers. Juan Gonzalez hit two homers, giving him a major league-leading 11 on the season, and Carl Everett hit his 10th for the Rangers, who nearly rallied from five runs down to win it. Former Ranger Frank Catalanotto homered off Colby Lewis (3-2) as a part of a six-run second inning for the Blue Jays, who avoided a three-game sweep. Toronto ended a 10-game losing streak to Texas.

Gonzalez had his third multihomer game of the season and the 46th of his career, tying Ken Griffey Jr., Harmon Killebrew and Mickey Mantle for 11th on the all-time list.

Orioles 5-6, Tigers 2-4

Detroit — Jay Gibbons broke up Mike Maroth’s no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the eighth and Baltimore went on to score six runs with two outs to sweep a doubleheader against Detroit with a 6-4 win. Gibbons hit a go-ahead two-run single and Tony Batista drove in another run in the eighth as Baltimore rallied to win the opener 5-2. The Tigers dropped to 3-23 after losing their fourth straight game. The Orioles (15-12) are three games above .500 for the first time since May 4, 2000.