MINNEAPOLIS – As he expected heading into his outing Saturday night at Target Field, Astros righthander Mike Fiers couldn’t match Johnny Vander Meer’s record for no-hitters in consecutive starts.
Fiers settled for a 4-1 victory over the Twins before a sellout crowd of 38,876 in his first start since he threw a no-hitter against the Dodgers on Aug. 21 at Minute Maid Park.
Fiers (2-0) gave up three hits and one run with three walks, one hit batter and five strikeouts in six innings to tie the three-game series heading into Sunday’s finale.
Fiers was relieved with a 4-1 lead and two on and nobody out in the seventh, but righthander Will Harris struck out Torii Hunter, induced Kurt Suzuki’s weak fly out and struck out Byron Buxton to strand the runners.