Pablo López, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran pitch Twins past Blue Jays 2-0, ending 4-game skid
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.
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Affordability crisis could be reaching its peak in Canada, economist says
With Canada's annual inflation rate reaching the central bank's two per cent target, the country's affordability crisis could be peaking, according to an economist.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, goes back to work days after cancer treatment update
Catherine, Princess of Wales has held her first engagement since revealing that she has completed her chemotherapy treatment.
Ukrainian drones strike a large military depot in a Russian town northwest of Moscow
Ukrainian drones struck a large military depot in a town deep inside Russia overnight, causing a huge blaze and prompting the evacuation of some local residents, a Ukrainian official and Russian news reports said Wednesday.
How to prevent lung cancer, regardless of whether you smoke, according to a doctor
More people who have never touched a cigarette are getting lung cancer, but there are ways to prevent it, according to a doctor.
Bride's family speaks as West Vancouver woman sentenced for driving SUV into wedding party
Sixty-five-year-old Hong Xu, who drove her SUV into a crowd of people celebrating a wedding at her next-door neighbour's house in West Vancouver on Aug. 20, 2022, has been sentenced under the Motor Vehicle Act for driving without due care and attention.
This airport landing is so challenging only 50 pilots are qualified to do it
Bhutan's Paro International Airport (PBH) is widely considered one of the most technically difficult plane landings in the world. Maneuvering onto a short runway between two 18,000-foot peaks requires both technical knowledge and nerves of steel.
Exploding Hezbollah pagers in apparent Israeli attack made by Hungarian company, Taiwanese firm says
A company based in Hungary was responsible for manufacturing the pagers that exploded in Lebanon and Syria in an apparent Israeli operation targeting Hezbollah’s communications network, another firm whose brand was used on the devices said Wednesday.
'It's ridiculous': Ontario man told to pay $1,000 to end water heater contract
An Ontario man was surprised to learn he would have to pay a $1,000 penalty to cancel his water heater rental. 'I was shocked that the penalty I had to pay was almost the cost of a brand new water heater,' James Alves, of Etobicoke, told CTV News Toronto.
Taylor Swift previously said she was uninspired to include politics in her music. Now, she's singing a different tune
In 2011, a young Taylor Swift said she was not inspired to sing about topics related to politics. Over a decade later, she's singing a different tune.