Pablo López extends scoreless streak to 20⅔ innings in Twins’ victory over Blue Jays

The last time Pablo López pitched against the Toronto Blue Jays at Target Field, he showed he was the ace of the Twins pitching staff and he conquered the franchise’s 18-game postseason losing streak.

The way he pitched in a 2-0 victory Friday gave the Twins hope about what a playoff run could look like this year.

López threw 7⅔ shutout innings, extending his scoreless streak to a career-best 20⅔ innings. Three of the six hits he gave up didn’t leave the infield. He struck out only three batters because he was content inducing ground ball after ground ball. This was a work of art, ending the Twins’ four-game losing streak.

“We were facing probably the hottest pitcher in baseball,” said Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman, who gave up four hits and two runs in 5⅔ innings.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli made a mound visit after López gave up a two-out single in the eighth inning with Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran warm in the bullpen, but there wasn’t much of a back-and-forth. It was López’s game.

López wished he could have finished the inning. He gave up an infield single on a slow roller to third base. Still, the righthander walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the announced crowd of 24,623.

Jax, three pitches later, brought the crowd to its feet again with an inning-ending strikeout, blowing a 99-mph fastball past Daulton Varsho with two runners on base.

“Every game has its reasons to find that competitive edge, that competitive fire,” López said. “The last four games we’ve played wasn’t really our baseball. It’s a long season. It’s hard not to go through those moments. You definitely don’t want to go through those late in the second half with the push we’re making. But you use them as being more focused, being more locked in.”

López faced off against Gausman, a repeat matchup from Game 1 in last year’s wild-card round. Again, López was the difference.

Gausman, who entered with a 6.94 ERA in 12 career regular season starts against the Twins, didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning. But the Twins broke through with a couple of runs in the fifth after their first three batters reached base.

After Jose Miranda led off with a double to the right field wall, Carlos Santana followed with an RBI single on the next pitch, a splitter off the outside corner. It was the first time the Twins held a lead since the ninth inning last Sunday, a 32-inning streak.

Gausman’s troubles continued when he issued a walk to Ryan Jeffers, one of Gausman’s four free passes, and the Twins went small ball. Austin Martin dropped a sacrifice bunt and Willi Castro drove in Santana with a sacrifice fly, a ball that Blue Jays left fielder Nathan Luke caught with a leaping grab into the wall.

“Even if it were just one more run, which it ended up being, I’m not going to say I or anyone knew that would be enough, but it would certainly give everyone a little more confidence in everything they do, especially our pitcher,” Baldelli said of Martin’s bunt.

The Blue Jays didn’t have a baserunner against López until Spencer Horwitz dropped a leadoff single into shallow right field in the fifth inning. The next batter, Addison Barger, reached on an infield single and found himself in his first jam.

López, as he’s done since the All-Star break, upped his velocity and found another level. He retired the next three batters without a runner moving.

After the Twins found ways to beat themselves in series losses to St. Louis and Atlanta on this homestand, things finally turned for a night. Matt Wallner erased a potential one-out double in the seventh inning, tossing out Horwitz with a bullet throw on a ball to the wall in the right field corner. López reacted by putting his hands over his head as third baseman Royce Lewis punched the air in celebration.

López, who reached only one three-ball count in his 106-pitch performance, has posted a 1.92 ERA in eight starts since the All-Star break.

“We saw this last year too,” Jax said. “His first half was a little rocky, but his work ethic and his detail for the game is so fine, and so advanced and mature for anybody, so you kind of expect it. Not to say this game isn’t hard, but I think Pablo does a great job of taking care of all the things he can.”