MINNEAPOLIS _ It was precise. It was quick. And it was all Ervin.
Right-hander Ervin Santana led the Twins to a 4-0 win over Oakland on Wednesday afternoon as the Twins took two of three games in the series. For Santana, who had it all working, it was his first complete game shutout since June 16, 2012 against Arizona.
For the Twins, it was the first complete game shutout since Andrew Albers in 2013.
The announced crowd of 27,657 stood on its feet in the ninth inning as Santana finished his gem. He got Marcus Semien to fly out to center and Tyler Ladendorf to pop out to short before getting Billy Burns to ground out to short to end the game.
It took seven pitches to get through the final inning of the game _ giving him exactly 100 for the game.
Wednesday was a reminder of what Santana can do when he is locked in. It's also a sign to contenders looking for starting pitching help of how he can help.
He threw 93 mile an hour fastballs with nasty sink. He reached back and threw 95 mph when he needed. A's hitters swung over the top of his slider. Oakland could not square anything up, and Santana began to pile up hitless innings.
The only early blemish was Joe Mauer's error on a pop-up in foul territory in the second. Khris Davis was given a chance to extend his at-bat, but the outfielder eventually struck out.
Santana went through his innings with uncanny efficiency. But with two outs in the fifth inning, Billy Butler lined a double off the left field wall for the first hit Oakland hit of the game. He was stranded at second, as Yonder Alonzo struck out to end the inning.
The Twins finally broke through against A's right-hander Sonny Gray in the fifth when Mauer socked an RBI double to center, scoring Robbie Grossman. Santana had his run, but what would he do with it?
Santana shutdown the A's on seven pitches in the sixth, making a complete-game shutout a real possibility. He struck out Davis on three pitches to end the seventh, with Davis slamming his bat to the ground in frustration.
Then the Twins added two more runs in seventh, on a bases-loaded walk by Max Kepler and a sacrifice fly by Eddie Rosario, to take a 3-0 lead.
Stephen Vogt led off the eighth with a single but was erased on a 3-6-1 double that was started with a nice stop by Mauer. The Twins got a sacrifice fly by Eduardo Nunez in the eighth to push the lead to 4-0 and set the stage for Santana's ninth.
