By Canadian Press

Pablo López, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran pitch Twins past Blue Jays 2-0, ending 4-game skid

Aug 30, 2024 | 9:18 PM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Pablo López pitched 7 2/3 shutout innings and Jhoan Duran rebounded from a rough outing to record the save as the Minnesota Twins snapped a four-game skid and beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Friday night.

López (13-8) allowed six hits and and struck out three without a walk. The 28-year-old right-hander extended his scoreless streak to 20 2/3 innings and won for the fourth time in five decisions.

López got the first two outs of the eight before Nathan Lukes singled his 100th pitch of the game. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli visited the mound but left his starter in to face ninth-place hitter Leo Jiménez. When Jiménez reached on an infield single, Griffin Jax came on to strike out Daulton Varsho on three pitches, ending the inning.

Duran, who gave up four runs in the 10th inning of Wednesday’s 8-6 loss to Atlanta, pitched around a leadoff single by Will Wagner for his 19th save in 21 chances.

Kevin Gausman (12-10) had won six of his last seven decisions, but gave up two runs on four hits while walking four in 5 2/3 innings in the loss.

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The Twins didn’t get their first hit until the fourth inning, when Matt Wallner looped a single just over a leaping second baseman Will Wagner into short center field.

Meanwhile, the Jays’ first baserunner came when Spencer Horwitz lined a soft single to right leading off the fifth. Addison Barger followed with an infield single, but López retired the next three hitters to keep the game scoreless.

Minnesota finally broke through in the fifth when Jose Miranda led off with a double to right-center and scored on Carlos Santana’s single to right. After a walk and a sacrifice bunt, Willi Castro made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in left, scoring Santana.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Blue Jays: OF Joey Loperfido, who got the night off, cleared the concussion protocol after he collided with the Green Monster while making a catch on Thursday night in Boston.

UP NEXT

RHP José Berríos (13-9, 3.72 ERA) will face his former team for the sixth time in his career when the Blue Jays and Twins meet for the second game of the series Saturday night. Berrios is 3-1 with a 4.03 ERA against the Twins, for whom he pitched from 2016-21. Minnesota will counter with RHP Zebby Matthews (1-1, 3.00), who is making his fourth major league start.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Patrick Donnelly, The Associated Press