Veterans Sonny Gray, Zack Greinke start as Twins face Royals

The Twins provided plenty of drama on Tuesday night, taking a combined no-hitter into the ninth inning before Bobby Witt's one-out double for Kansas City ended the bid.

The game marked Joe Ryan's best outing as a Twin in what technically is his rookie season. He pitched seven no-hit innings before Juan Minaya finished the 6-3 victory.

Ryan threw 106 pitches before he was pulled by manager Rocco Baldelli.

The Royals and Twins meet again tonight (6:40, BSN) at Target Field in the second of a three-game series with the Twins' backs against the wall in the American League Central race. They trail first-place Cleveland by 5 ¹⁄₂ games, with the teams scheduled to meet in a five-game series this weekend.

Twins righty Sonny Gray (7-4, 3.09 ERA) faces Royals righthander Zack Greinke (4-8, 4.00).

ROYALS LINEUP

MJ Melendez, LF

Bobby Witt Jr., SS

Salvador Perez, C

Vinnie Pasquantino, 1B

Michael A. Taylor, CF

Ryan O'Hearn, DH

Hunter Dozier, 3B

Michael Massey, 2B

Drew Waters, RF

TWINS LINEUP

Luis Arraez, 2B

Carlos Correa, SS

Jose Miranda, 1B

Gio Urshela, 3B

Nick Gordon, LF

Gary Sánchez, DH

Gilberto Celestino, CF

Jake Cave, RF

Sandy León, C