Jake Odorizzi took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in front of a tiny home crowd, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Minnesota Twins 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Lucas Duda homered and drove in both runs for the Rays, who improved to .500 on the season and got within two games of Minnesota for the second AL wild card. The Twins dropped a half game back of the Angels for the second wild card.
Joe Mauer got the Twins’ first hit — and extended his hitting streak to 14 games — with a grounder that caromed off second base with one out in the seventh. Odorizzi (8-7) was lifted for reliever Dan Jennings after striking out the next batter, Jorge Polanco.
The only other batter to reach base against Odorizzi was Eddie Rosario, who walked leading off the fifth.
Robbie Grossman accounted for the lone Twins run with a ninth inning homer.
The game was played before a crowd of 6,509, the smallest-ever announced attendance for a Rays home game. Nearly 400 fewer fans attended last Wednesday’s relocated game between the Astros and Rangers at Tropicana Field.
