Blue Jays 2, Twins 0
Ricky Romero came within an out of a complete-game shutout and Jose Bautista blasted his 12th home run as the Toronto Blue Jays beat host Minnesota 2-0 Friday to send the Twins to their sixth loss in a row.
Romero (3-4) carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning as the Jays (18-20) won their third straight. The lefthander surrendered four hits, walked three and struck out seven.
Romero finally ran into trouble in the ninth when he allowed two Twins to reach base before being pulled with two outs. Frank Francisco struck out Michael Cuddyer to pick up his third save.
Toronto pounded out 13 hits against Minnesota starter Carl Pavano and four relievers, but couldn't make a dent on the scoreboard until the seventh. Corey Patterson reached on a single, stole second and scored on a Juan Rivera single off losing pitcher Alex Burnett (0-2).
Bautista completed the scoring in the ninth with a towering homer to left field off Joe Nathan, tying him with Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson for the major-league lead. Bautista finished 3-for-4 with a walk to raise his average to .365.
Pavano worked around seven hits and three walks over 5 1/3 innings for Minnesota (12-24). The veteran righty struck out one, his only punchout over his last three starts spanning 15 2/3 innings and 80 batters.