ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Chris Archer had one of those days that have been rare for him this season -- almost everything went his way.

Evan Longoria, Bobby Wilson and Logan Forsythe all homered to back Archer's six strong innings as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Minnesota Twins 7-3 on Saturday night.

Archer (6-15) won for the third time in his last 15 starts, giving up one run and three hits and striking out seven to regain the American League lead in strikeouts with 168.

"I feel lately I've been pretty efficient, even when I'm not getting a lot of strikeouts," Archer said. "Tonight, the sixth inning got away from me a little bit but I'm not even worried about it. Six was all the team needed tonight. I definitely wanted to go deeper but it's not all about me, it's about getting a team win."

Alex Colome got the final two outs for his 27th save after the Twins rallied for two runs in the ninth. The Rays clinched their first winning homestand of the season, improving to 6-3 with the finale on Sunday.

When a reporter suggested it was "crazy" that it took until August for a winning homestand, manager Kevin Cash said: "I can think of better words than crazy. I'll stick with disappointing, but we're happy that it finally has come.

"Obviously to be a winning team you've got to play well at home."

Archer snapped a stretch of eight home starts without a win.

"We all know he's a very talented young man," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "He's been trying to find ways to win games this year. Tonight it seemed like he had it going. He had his velocity going and took advantage of some of our inexperience to expand (the strike zone). "

Longoria and Wilson homered off Minnesota starter Jose Berrios (2-2), who gave up four runs and six hits in five innings.

Longoria's 24th home run gave the Rays a 2-0 lead in the third. Wilson, re-acquired by the Rays off waivers from Texas on Thursday, homered in his second at bat and drove in another run with a single. Forsythe added his 11th home run in the seventh off reliever Trevor May.

Brian Dozier drove in the Twins' first run with a double in the sixth, extending his career-high hitting streak to 15 games.

MILLER MASHING

Brad Miller hasn't let a pending move from shortstop to first base due to the acquisition of Duffy impact his offense. He entered Saturday with five homers in seven games and 15 since June 11. "It's taking good swings, not necessarily home-run swings," Miller said. "I'm just trying to catch the ball out front." Miller is working out at first and is expected to play games there soon.

MOVING DAY

The Rays placed OF Desmond Jennings (bruised left knee) on the 15-day disabled day and reinstated OF Mikie Mahtook (fractured left hand) from the DL.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Twins: 3B Trevor Plouffe, on the disabled list with a fractured left rib, homered in the seventh inning for Triple-A Rochester to break up a perfect game Saturday night. The Twins expect to activate Plouffe as early as Monday.

Rays: SS Matt Duffy (strained left Achilles' tendon) plans to make his Tampa Bay debut Friday night at the New York Yankees. Duffy, acquired from San Francisco on Monday, said running the bases in a rehab game Friday with Class A Charlotte "felt almost like nothing happened." ... The Rays placed OF Desmond Jennings (bruised left knee) on the 15-day disabled day and reinstated OF Mikie Mahtook (fractured left hand) from the DL. ... OF Oswaldo Arcia (strained right elbow) and 1B Logan Morrison (strained right forearm) could be ready for minor league games in the next week.

UP NEXT

Twins: RHP Kyle Gibson (3-6) will pitch the series finale. He is 0-4 with an 8.85 ERA in four starts against the Rays.

Rays: RHP Matt Andriese (6-2) expects to be held to a pitch count around 80 in his second start since spending more than a month in the bullpen.