Mays’ Comeback Seems Complete

Joe Mays has had some success, but this was the big breakout he and the Minnesota Twins were waiting for after his recovery from elbow surgery that kept him off the mound for 18 months.

Mays gave up seven hits in his first complete game in nearly three years, pitching Minnesota past the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-0, on Thursday at Minneapolis.

Mays sat through a long rally by his teammates in the sixth inning, and the Twins were concerned about how he would emerge.

Just fine, they found out, and Mays kept going all the way to the end.

“A lot of people really doubted me, but there was never really a doubt in my mind that I would be back to this point,” said Mays, who struck out two without a walk in 93 pitches.

It was his first complete game since a two-hit shutout against Boston on Aug. 16, 2002.

Michael Cuddyer’s two-run double with the bases loaded in the sixth, the culmination of a 13-pitch at-bat, broke a scoreless tie and chased Blue Jay starter Gustavo Chacin. Mike Redmond greeted reliever Jason Frasor with a two-run single.

Toronto designated hitter Corey Koskie broke his right thumb when he was thrown out by Torii Hunter trying to tag up on a fly ball to center in the second inning.

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Tampa Bay 6, Detroit 2 -- Nick Green and Damon Hollins homered at Detroit and the Devil Rays ended a four-game losing streak.

Mike Maroth, a late substitution for Jeremy Bonderman, took the loss.

Detroit Manager Alan Trammell said before the game that he decided to give Bonderman another day off after the pitcher told him his arm “was a little dead.”

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Kansas City 7, Baltimore 4 -- Emil Brown hit a three-run homer and Angel Berroa added a solo shot for the Royals at Kansas City, Mo.

The Royals (12-29) improved to 4-4 under interim Manager Bob Schaefer, who took over for Tony Pena on May 11.

But they still have the worst record in club history after 41 games.

Kansas City handed Runelvys Hernandez a 6-0 advantage after three innings, yet the right-hander failed to get out of the fourth and was replaced by rookie Leo Nunez.