MINNEAPOLIS – Canadian left-hander Andrew Albers threw a two-hitter in his second career start and the Minnesota Twins backed him with a pair of home runs to beat the Cleveland Indians 3-0 Monday night.
Albers (2-0), of North Battleford, Sask., allowed just two singles, walked none and struck out two.
Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe homered to help the Twins win for the eighth time in 11 games.
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Prized prospect Danny Salazar (1-1) gave up three runs on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts in four innings.
Albers had Tommy John surgery in 2009 and made his big league debut at 27 years old in his last start.
He threw 8 1-3 scoreless innings at Kansas City and now has ripped off 17 1-3 straight scoreless to start his career.
He kept the Indians off-balance with an assortment of breaking pitches all night, outshining the overpowering Salazar in the process.
Albers was ahead 0-2 on 10 of the first 20 batters he faced, never hitting higher than 88 mph on the Target Field radar gun.
He had a perfect game going until Kipnis blooped a soft single to centre field with two outs in the fourth and got some help from some spectacular defence along the way.
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