MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. The Minnesota Twins have owned Tampa Bay pitching this season, but they have no such contract with crafty left-hander Jeffrey Springs.Springs pitched 5 1/3 scorele s innings on Sunday, allowing just two hits and shutting down a Twins offense that had scored 33 runs during four-straight wins over Tampa Bay this season. The Rays won 6-0 to salvage a game in the series, avoiding another sweep. The Rays haven't been swept in a series of three games or more since last June 17-20 at Seattle, the longest stretch in the majors.Springs has been spectacular since moving into the rotation last month. This was his fifth scorele s outing in his past eight appearances, and his ERA is now down to 1.45, the lowest in the majors for pitchers with 49 innings or more.Yep, you've read that right.Lowest in the majors.I thought I was able to mix and move pretty well, but I would have liked to have thrown at least 15 le s pitches for sure, especially only going five and a third,'' Springs said in a jubilant postgame locker room.Theyre a good lineup. You watch them yesterday and they can score a lot of runs quickly. One through nine, theyre good. Keeping them at bay today, I was definitely pleased with that. They can score really quickly over there and they Jose Fernandez Jersey can really swing the bat, so Ill definitely take it.''Springs has to sed 13 straight scorele s innings, and the Rays are now 5-1 in his last six starts. The only game he lost was a 2-0 decision to the New York Yankees where he had a no-hitter through five innings.He's been that good. And it helped a lot that he got plenty of run support on Sunday at Target Field, with the Rays getting a run in the third inning, two more Jeff Locke Jersey in the fourth and another pair in the fifth while Springs was in the game.It was a lot of fun (watching the offense),'' Springs said. "Weve got a really good lineup. I know there are times where they might struggle to score runs and things like that, but Ill go to war with them every day of the week. They're good and its just a matter of time before they get in rolling and get dangerous.''Scroll to ContinueSprings thew a career-high 94 pitches, which he admitted was too many. He prides himself on efficiency, so he felt like he was forced out of the game earlier than he would have liked. He walked his last batter with one out in the sixth, and Matt Wisler had to come in to finish the inning.I knew the pitch count was getting up there and if I could have had a clean inning, they were going to let me finish it,'' Springs said. "Thats why they sent me back out there. Its just frustrating. Id rather give up a hit all day than give up a walk like that.''Thats too many pitches in five and a third, to be honest. Theyre good hitters and they made me work some deep counts and things like that. Overall I felt pretty good. I got a little ga sed there toward the end. I cant change it now. Ive got to challenge him and not end it on a walk. Im definitely just trying to build off of each one. Just trying to learn from the adjustments I need to make from outing to outing.''The Rays got on the board in the third inning with some small ball. Right fielder Brett Phillips led off the inning with a walk, went to second on wild pitch, advance to third on a ground out and scored on an infield single by Ji-Man Choi.Choi has now hit Miami Marlins Custom Jersey safely in 11 straight games, the longest streak of his career.Tampa Bay added two more runs in the fourth. Randy Arozarena was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game, then stole second and went to third when Kevin Kiermaier reached safely on a throwing error by Twins starter Sands. He scored on a ground ball to first, barely beating the throw home to make it 2-0. Vidal Brujan drove in the third run with a single.In the fifth, Manuel Margot led off with a double, and then scored on a two-out double by Arozarena. He then scored on a Kiermaier single, making it 5-0. Kiermaier added a solo homer in the seventh as well, and was 2-for-4 on the day. It was his third multi-hit game in a row.Jalen Beeks, Calvin Faucher and Colin Poche all pitched scorele s innings in relief.The Rays (35-25) are off on Monday, and then start a critical three-game series with the AL East-leading New York Yankees on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. The Rays will start Corey Kluber, Shane McClanahan and Drew Rasmu sen in the three night games Miami Marlins T-Shirts . The Yankees will go with Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes and Luis Severino.The Yankees are 44-16 on the season, by far the best record in baseball. They have a nine-game lead on the third-place Rays.Watch Jeffrey Springs' postgame interviewRelated stories on Rays baseballGRAND SLAM DOOMS BAZ IN DEBUT (Saturday):Tampa Bay right-hander Shane Baz threw two perfect innings in his 2022 debut on Saturday at Minnesota, but then it all went wrong in the third inning, where he gave up five runs. The Rays couldn't recover and lost for the second straight day, falling 6-5 to the Twins. TWINS THUMP RAYS (Friday): Minnesota standout Byron Buxton hit two more home runs Friday night in leading the Twins to a 9-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. He's now hit five homers in three games, and the Twins have scored nine runs against Rays in three straight games now. KITTREDGE OUT FOR YEAR: For a team that relies on its bullpen so much to get big outs, losing veteran closer Andrew Kittredge for the season is a Giancarlo Stanton Jersey huge blow to the Tampa Bay Rays, Inside The Rays publisher Tom Brew says. Kittredge has gotten a lot of big outs the past several years and was even an All-Star a year ago. He will be mi sed now that he's out of the mix for at least a year after requiring Tommy John surgery. McCLANAHAN BEST PITCHER? In every start since April ended, when Rays left-hander Shane McClanahan takes the mound, the Rays win. He's 6-0 in his last seven starts with a nasty 1.19 ERA. So it's very safe and very clear to say that Shane McClanahan just might be the best pitcher in baseball right now. He looked the part for sure in Thursday's win over the Cardinals. TOM BREW COLUMN: Moving Jeffrey Springs into the rotation just might be the best move the Rays have made all year. Here's Tom Brew's column on the standout left-hander who has adapted to his new role well. RAYS 2022 SCHEDULE: Here is the Rays' complete schedule for 2022, with results and stats thus far, and gametimes and locations for the rest of the year.