Party like it’s October of 2023. The Minnesota Twins shut out the Toronto Blue Jays in a baseball game that had similar effects to taking melatonin.

Kevin Gausman got the start for the Blue Jays and battled through five-and-two-thirds innings of work without his best command. The right-hander allowed two earned runs on four hits and four walks and struck out four batters.

Both of Minnesota’s runs came in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jose Miranda led off the inning with a double, then Blue Jays Killer Carlos Santana cashed him in with a single to open the scoring. Later in the inning, Santana came around on a sacrifice fly to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.

Pablo López took the mound for Minnesota and shut the Blue Jays out over seven-and-two-thirds innings, lowering his season ERA to 4.05 with the excellent start. López was perfect until the fifth inning when Spencer Horwitz and Addison Barger hit back-to-back singles but he mowed through the next three batters to get through the inning unscathed.

The Blue Jays made things a little interesting in the ninth inning. Will Wagner hit a single off closer Jhoan Duran to start the inning but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Spencer Horwitz grounded out to end the game. It was the seventh time this season the team has been shut out.

Up next… The two teams will play the second of this three-game series on Saturday evening. Former Twin José Berríos will start for the Blue Jays and Minnesota will counter with a righty named Zebby Matthews. An eighth-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, Matthews has a 3.00 ERA over three appearances in the Majors.