ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Twins entered Tuesday looking to shake off their latest blowout loss.
They had no idea they would end up fighting to avoid being no hit.
They got their first hit, thanks to a well-placed grounder by Joe Mauer, in the seventh inning. They scored their first run in the ninth when Robbie Grossman homered off of closer Alex Colome. But Eddie Rosario grounded into a game-ending double play as the Twins lost 2-1.
Tampa Bay moved to 70-70 on the season _ and two games behind the Twins for the second wild-card spot.
Rays right-hander Jake Odorizzi dazzled at Tropicana Field, taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning when he lost his bid to the second base bag. A grounder by Mauer deflected off the bag, allowing him to reach with an infield single to end the no-no bid _ a cruel way for it to end when a pitcher is only seven outs away from the history books.
Rosario did hit a solid single to left later in the inning _ after Odorizzi was removed. But Odorizzi's mastery of the Twins lineup set the tone, and the Twins now have lost three straight games and four of their last five.
There were signs of trouble in the early innings, as the Twins went down quickly. Odorizzi needed nine pitches to get out of the second inning then eight in the third.
Twins right-hander Bartolo Colon was on his game, just not in Odorizzi-like fashion. Lucas Duda hit a solo home run off of him in the fourth then added a RBI double in the sixth that stood as the game winner.
Colon gave up two runs over six innings on five hits and a walk while striking out five. A solid's night's work on a night in which solid was not good enough.
Odorizzi made just his fifth career start against the Twins, but the visitors were very familiar with him from the number of times they have faced him in spring training. They knew his pitches and how he uses them.
But it was as if Odorizzi was another person Tuesday.
He threw a lively fastball that Twins hitters either missed or were unable to square up. They chased his breaking ball when it was off the plate or watched it cut the plate for strikes. They were baffled, and the outs accumulated rapidly.
The first time through the order, Odorizzi got four ground ball outs, four fly outs and one strikeout. The Twins got their first basrunner when Rosario drew a one out walk in the fifth, but he was erased on a double play to keep Odorizzi on the minimum amount of batters faced. The no-no alert went off in the sixth, as Odorizzi struck out the side, the last out coming on a curveball to Grossman that caressed the outside corner. Grossman, like he does most of the time when he strikes out looking, disputed the call. Odorizzi headed into the seventh inning having thrown 77 pitches. The announced crowd of 6,509 began to roar a little more.
Brian Dozier led off the seventh with a fly out to left, bringing up Mauer. Odorizzi got ahead 1-2 then tried to finish Mauer off with a 94 mph fastball, but Mauer swatted a grounder up the middle.
Rays shortstop Adeiny Hechevarria was in perfect position to gather the ball, but it struck the second base bag and popped up. Hechevarria moved to his right to grab the ball and fired to first. Mauer, however, was safe with an infield single.
Odorizzi struck out Jorge Polanco for the second out, but that was his last batter. Fans booed as Rays manager Kevin Cash went to the mound and called for lefthander Dan Jennings, who gave up a sharp single to left to Rosario. Steve Cishek came in and got Buxton to fly out to end the inning.
