Summary Sanchez struck out 12 and allowed three walks, with just one hit against over the nine innings.
DETROIT (AP) - Anibal Sanchez took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before Minnesota s Joe Mauer broke it up with a one-out single in the Tigers 6-0 victory over the Twins on Friday night.
Sanchez fell two outs shy of his second career no-hitter, but the performance was his second gem in about a month
he set a franchise record with 17 strikeouts in eight marvelous innings against Atlanta on April 26.
Sanchez (5-4) struck out 12 on Friday and allowed three walks, with just one hit against over the nine innings.
The home crowd gave him a standing ovation when he came out to start the ninth, and he immediately struck out Jamey Carroll. Mauer, followed with a clean line drive up the middle to almost the same spot where Pittsburgh s Josh Harrison s hit landed last year when he broke up a no-hit bid by Detroit s Justin Verlander, also with two outs to go.
Sanchez instinctively reached up for Mauer s hit, but there was no chance for anyone least of all the pitcher
to catch it. Sanchez then jerked his head back and spun in frustration, but with a bit of a smile on his face.
After he struck out the next two hitters to end the game, he shared a hug with catcher Alex Avila. Sanchez threw 130 pitches.
Elsewhere, an injury to outfielder Curtis Granderson marred the New York Yankees 9-4 victory at Tampa Bay.
Granderson broke the knuckle on his left pinky finger after being hit by a Cesar Ramos pitch in the fifth. After later scoring, he was replaced defensively by Ichiro Suzuki in the bottom of the inning.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi had no official timeline for how long Granderson will be out, but indicated it could be a minimum of four weeks.
"It is what it is," said Granderson, who will see a hand specialist in New York on Monday. "You can t change it right now, you ve got to move forward."
In Kansas City, Mike Trout had his 21st multi-hit game, Jason Vargas pitched into the eighth inning and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 to extend their winning streak to six games.
Trout had two hits, stole his 11th base and scored two runs, including one on a wild pitch.
In other AL games, the Baltimore Orioles beat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-6 and Mike Carp hit a three-run homer as the Boston Red Sox rolled the Cleveland Indians 8-1.
Jordan Zimmermann became the National League s first eight-game winner, and the Washington Nationals followed a calamitous road trip with a winning start to a homestand, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 Friday night.
Zimmermann (8-2) allowed two runs and six hits with no walks over seven innings actually raising his ERA to 1.71
on an unseasonably chilly and windy night in the nation s capital.
Joey Votto extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a homer, and Ryan Hanigan and Brandon Phillips also homered on Friday night, powering the Cincinnati Reds to their fourth straight win, 7-4 over the Chicago Cubs.
In other NL games, the Milwaukee Brewers had a narrow 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Arizona Diamondbacks scored a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies dismantled the defending champion San Francisco Giants 5-0.
