TAMPA, Fla. (Interstat) — Junior Caminero homered twice and drove in three runs, and Drew Rasmussen pitched six strong innings as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-2 on Friday night at George Steinbrenner Field.

The Rays improved to 14-11, while the Twins dropped to 12-14 in front of an announced crowd of 14,476. The game lasted 2 hours, 27 minutes.

Tampa Bay struck first in the bottom of the first inning when Caminero launched a solo home run to center field, his seventh of the season. The Twins answered in the top of the fifth when shortstop Brooks Lee hit a solo homer to right, his fourth, tying the score at 1. But the Rays regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth when first baseman Jonathan Aranda hit a solo shot to right, his fifth.

The pivotal moment came in the bottom of the seventh. With the Rays leading 4-2, Caminero stepped to the plate with one on and two outs after Chandler Simpson walked. Caminero crushed a 1-0 pitch to center field for his second homer of the night, an eighth-inning blast that scored Simpson and extended the lead to 6-2. That two-run shot effectively put the game out of reach.

Minnesota mounted a late rally in the top of the ninth. Third baseman Royce Lewis led off with a solo homer to left, his third, cutting the deficit to 6-3. Right fielder Matt Wallner followed with a single, and Lee doubled to put runners at second and third with no outs. But Rays reliever Bryan Baker, who entered the game in the eighth, settled down. He induced a weak groundout from second baseman Tristan Gray, then struck out center fielder Byron Buxton and got left fielder Trevor Larnach to ground out to first to end the game. Baker earned his fifth save of the season.

Rasmussen (2-0) was efficient, allowing one earned run on five hits over six innings while striking out six. He walked one. The right-hander retired the side in order in the first, second, and fourth innings and worked out of a jam in the fifth after Lee’s homer and a single by Gray, getting Buxton to line out and Larnach to ground out.

Twins starter Taj Bradley (3-1) took the loss, giving up six runs on seven hits over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked three. Bradley allowed solo homers to Caminero in the first and Aranda in the fourth, then surrendered Aranda’s second homer of the night in the sixth, a solo shot to right that made it 4-2. The right-hander was pulled after Caminero’s two-run blast in the seventh.

Minnesota’s offense was led by Lee, who went 3-for-4 with a double, a homer and an RBI. Lewis also homered in the ninth. The Twins managed nine hits total but left seven runners on base, including two in the ninth.

Tampa Bay’s Aranda finished 2-for-4 with two homers and two RBIs, giving him six home runs on the season. Caminero’s two-homer game followed a recent hot streak; he had homered in two of his previous four contests, including a 1-for-4, two-RBI performance against Cincinnati on April 22. His eighth-inning blast marked his eighth homer of the year.

The Rays’ bullpen was effective after Rasmussen departed. Cole Sulser tossed a scoreless seventh, allowing one hit and striking out none. Baker closed out the ninth with a perfect inning of work, striking out one.

For the Twins, relievers Eric Orze and Anthony Banda each threw a scoreless inning, combining for two strikeouts and no hits. Orze struck out two in the eighth, and Banda retired two batters in the seventh after Bradley was pulled.

The scoring opened in the first when Caminero greeted Bradley with his solo homer. The Twins tied it in the fifth on Lee’s homer, but Aranda answered in the bottom of the sixth with his second solo shot. Tampa Bay added an insurance run in the seventh on Caminero’s second homer.

Minnesota’s only other run came in the top of the ninth on Lewis’ homer, but the Twins could not complete the comeback.

The game marked the fourth meeting between the teams this season. Tampa Bay had won two of the previous three, including a 4-1 victory on April 5 and a 7-1 win on April 4, both in Minnesota. The Twins had taken the series opener on April 3 with a 10-4 win.

The Twins will continue their road trip Saturday with the second game of this three-game series, while the Rays will look to extend their winning streak.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Tampa Bay 6, Minnesota 5. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Tampa Bay with a 56.60 percent probability to win. Tampa Bay had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 8 went under the over/under line of 7.5.