MINNEAPOLIS -- With their offense sputtering and their lead in the wild-card race dwindling, the Minnesota Twins did what they had to do Saturday to get a victory.

The Twins scratched together three runs -- two of them on wild pitches -- and clawed back from a one-run deficit in the bottom of the ninth, winning 3-2 over the Seattle Mariners at Target Field.

Twins catcher Kurt Suzuki, who entered the game hitting just .230 this season, got the game-winning hit with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the game tied at 2.

Mariners right fielder Nelson Cruz gave Seattle a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning, an edge that looked like it would hold given Minnesota's lethargic offense.

But the Twins rallied off Mariners closer Carson Smith, getting a leadoff double by designated hitter Miguel Sano. Pinch runner Shane Robinson pinch ran and got to third on a wild pitch two batters later.

With two outs and Robinson still at third, the Mariners put the winning run on first base when they intentionally walked rookie left fielder Eddie Rosario, bringing the veteran Suzuki to the plate. But Smith uncorked his second wild pitch of the inning, allowing Robinson to scamper home from third, tying the game.

Rosario caught the Mariners napping, stealing third without a throw before Suzuki ripped a single through the hole at short, capping the win.

"I was excited, I was pumped up," Suzuki said. "Anybody who plays this game wants to be in that position. I don't care where you are in the standings, you want to be in that spot."

For Smith, the blown save was his third in a row and the loss was his fifth of the season, but Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said he will continue to use Smith as his closer.

"More than anything, I think [he's struggling with] command," McClendon said. "The inexperience showed up tonight. But it's the only way you're going to learn; he's gotta learn from these mistakes. He'll be better as a result of them."

The win for Minnesota kept them one game clear of the Baltimore Orioles in the race for the second wild-card spot in the American League, and two games better than the Toronto Blue Jays.

Minnesota opens a four-game series against the Jays at the Rogers Centre on Monday.

"We needed a win," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "We've been finding out, wins get a little bit tougher. You have to find a way to stay with the game and tonight we were rewarded at the end."

Trevor May got the win, pitching a shutout inning in the ninth before the rally. May improved to 3-0 since being relegated to bullpen duty on July 5. He has a 3.56 ERA in nine appearances over that span.

Each starter pitched well but did not figure into the final decision.

Twins right-hander Kyle Gibson allowed two runs on six hits and one walk, striking out four in seven innings. He was in danger of seeing the game spiral out of control in his final frame, allowing a single and a double that put two runners in scoring position and nobody out.

But Gibson dug in, getting a fly out to shallow center and a pair groundouts to get out of the inning unscathed and with the Twins still down just one run.

"You just have to get the last two hitters out of your mind," Gibson said. "That's what I told myself before I got on the mound there. You have to execute three to seven pitches."

Montgomery allowed just one run on four hits and a pair of walks in six innings of work, striking out six. He retired seven of the final nine men he faced, erasing a one-out walk in the sixth with his second double play of the night.

"I thought I could have been a little more efficient," Montgomery said. "Ran into a couple of jams, I just tried to battle and keep throwing those pitches and keep getting outs."

NOTES: Mariners 2B Robinson Cano returned to the lineup, batting fourth as the designated hitter. Cano missed the previous three games with an abdominal strain. ... Mariners 1B Logan Morrison remained out of the starting lineup with a bruised left thumb sustained Wednesday. Morrison, who is day-to-day, had missed three games before entering the game as a pinch runner Saturday in the seventh inning. ... Twins 3B Trevor Plouffe was reinstated from the paternity list. He missed three games. ... Twins RHP Kevin Jepsen, acquired in a trade from the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, was added to the 25-man roster. ... Twins SS Danny Santana was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. Santana is hitting .218 with no homers and 20 RBIs in 74 games. ... Twins SS Jorge Polanco was optioned to Double-A Chattanooga. Polanco has three hits and an RBI in 10 at-bats with Minnesota this year. ... The Mariners and Twins complete their four-game series at Target Field on Sunday afternoon. Seattle's Hisashi Iwakuma (2-2, 5.10 ERA) will oppose Minnesota's Mike Pelfrey (5-7, 3.92).