Twins lose to Blue Jays again 6-1
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Kyle Drabek pitched seven innings of one-hit ball to earn first major league win, Jose Molina and Jayson Nix hit solo home runs and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Minnesota Twins 6-1 on Saturday.
Drabek (1-0) didn't allow a hit until Denard Span's one-out single to left in the sixth, but followed that by striking out Tsuyoshi Nishioka looking and getting Joe Mauer to ground out.
Drabek, who went 0-3 in three starts last September, allowed one run, walked three and struck out a career-high seven.
The son of former NL Cy Young winner Doug Drabek and the first player acquired in the Roy Halladay trade to reach the majors with Toronto, the right-hander gave up just one fly ball and got 12 ground ball outs, including one double play.
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Shawn Camp pitched the eighth and Marc Rzepczynski worked the ninth as Toronto improved to 30-12 against Minnesota since the beginning of the 2006 season. The Blue Jays have won 15 of 20 home games against the Twins over that span.
Molina opened the third with a homer that bounced off the top of the wall in left and Nix made it 2-0 with a one-out drive to left in the fourth.
The Blue Jays chased Liriano in the fifth. Jose Bautista drew a one-out walk and Kevin Slowey came on in relief after Adam Lind singled. Edwin Encarnacion greeted Slowey with an RBI single and, one out later, pinch-hitter Travis Snider laced a two-run double to right.
Liriano (0-1) was charged with four runs and four hits. He walked five and struck out three.
Liriano fell to 0-3 with a 5.09 ERA in four career games against Toronto and became the second Twins starter in as many days to fail to pitch out of the fifth, after Carl Pavano allowed eight runs in four-plus innings in Friday's season opener, a 13-3 loss for Minnesota.
Toronto tacked on one more in the eighth against Matt Capps. Molina, Mike McCoy and Escobar all singled to load the bases for Aaron Hill, who hit a sacrifice fly to left.
Minnesota's only run came in the fourth when Nishioka walked and stole second, went to third on a grounder and scored on Justin Morneau's ground ball.
After going 0 for 4 Friday in his return from a concussion, Morneau went hitless again but drew a walk in the seventh.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
