ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Chris Archer looked like his old self Saturday, holding the Minnesota Twins to three hits in six innings and leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-3 win at Tropicana Field.

"It's not surprising," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We all know he's a very talented young man. He's been trying to find ways to win games this year and tonight it seemed like he had it going."

Archer (6-15) had just one win in his previous 10 starts, and after zero runs of support in his last two outings, the Rays (45-64) helped him out Saturday with three solo home runs and some manufactured runs as well.

Minnesota (44-66) missed out on a chance to shed the status of having the American League's worst record.

"Nice bounce-back win," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "I'm glad we came out more energized today. ... I thought Arch was good. He just ran out of pitches there at the end and drove his pitch count up a little bit in that last inning."

The Rays led just 3-1 in the sixth when Brad Miller beat out a possible double play at first. He stole second, stole third, then slid to avoid a tag at home on a grounder to short. That gave the Rays a 4-1 lead. Ryan Franklin, who had reached on the throw home, advanced on a single and then got third and home on wild pitches for a 5-1 lead.

"Brad Miller is doing a lot of things for us -- I loved the way he ran the bases today, aggressive, put himself in scoring position," Cash said. "Just tremendous baserunning."

Logan Forsythe added a solo home run, his 11th of the season, in the seventh for a 6-1 lead.

Bobby Wilson added an RBI single in the eighth, and Minnesota got two runs back in the ninth, with a fielding error setting up a two-run single by Jorge Polanco to cut the lead to 7-3.

Reliever Danny Floro pitched badly enough to turn a 7-1 game into a save situation for Alex Colome, who got the final two outs for his 27th save with the tying run on deck.

Archer struck out seven batters to give him 168 for the season, moving back ahead of Detroit's Justin Verlander for the American League lead. Twins starter Jose Berrios (2-2) lasted five innings, giving up four run on six hits.

"I'd say it was probably a fair outing," Molitor said. "Command is still something he needs to improve on. ... It's part of the process of getting up here and trying to figure things out."

Archer was in control from the start, limiting the Twins to two hits and no runs in the first five innings. He got help from stellar defense -- when Eddie Rosario walked in the second and Polanco singled, center fielder Kevin Kiermaier came up throwing and got Rosario at third to end the inning.

In the third inning, Danny Santana reached on an infield single, and Archer was able to follow that with an inning-ending double play off the bat of Brian Dozier.

The Rays had success off Berrios from the very start. Forsythe singled to lead off the game, and with two outs, he scored on Miller's RBI single off Dozier's glove at second.

Evan Longoria hit a solo homer -- his team-best 24th -- in the third inning and Wilson, in his first game with the Rays this season, hit his fourth homer overall this season in the fifth.

NOTES: The Rays made a roster move before Saturday's game, placing OF Desmond Jennings on the disabled list with a left knee contusion suffered when he fouled a ball off the knee in Tuesday's game. They also activated OF Mikie Mahtook off the DL, where he had been since June 21 with a fractured hand. Jennings, limited by injuries for much of this season, was hitting .200 in 200 at-bats. Mahtook hit .154 with three RBIs in 65 at-bats with the Rays earlier this season. ... As announced Friday night, the Rays also placed LHP Enny Romero on the DL with a back strain and recalled RHP Danny Farquhar from Triple-A Durham. ... C Bobby Wilson, claimed off waivers from the Rangers earlier this week, made his season debut with the Rays, starting and batting ninth. Wilson, who also played for the Tigers and Rangers this season, had a .241 average entering the game. ... 1B Joe Mauer entered the game on a ridiculous hot streak, batting .636 (14-for-22) with eight RBIs in the first five games of Minnesota's road trip. He was hitless in three at-bats on Saturday.