0-for-'03 vs. Twins

TWINS 5, RAYS 0: Kyle Lohse's shutout gives Minnesota sixth win vs. Tampa Bay this season, 11th straight overall.

[Times photo: Michael Rondou] Al Martin gets the call he's looking for as he steals second past Christian Guzman in the second inning.

ST. PETERSBURG - If you were a Devil Rays fan looking for good news at Tropicana Field on Thursday, it was on the loading dock. The Minnesota Twins packed up and left after the game and the Rays won't see them again this season, unless they're watching them in the playoffs.

The Twins beat the Rays again, this time 5-0. That makes it six straight for the season, the first time in six seasons the Rays went winless against an American League opponent, and 11 straight overall, matching the franchise record for futility against any team.

"I'm glad we don't play them anymore," manager Lou Piniella said. "You get frustrated losing to the same team. I know I do."

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said their dominance came with no logical explanation.

"It's kind of weird," Gardenhire said. "Lou wasn't here last year, and two years ago they killed us. We've been beat by the Yankees I don't know how many times in a row (13). It's hard to understand streaks; it's just the way the game flows. ... I don't know how we're winning them all, but all we're trying to do is put them in the left column, and so far we've been able to do that."

Coming off their inspiring 2002 postseason run, the Twins weren't winning much until the Rays came to Minneapolis last week, saddled with a disappointing 10-14 record. But they swept the Rays at the Metrodome, took two of three in Boston, then came in and swept the Rays again, improving to 18-15 and moving to within three games of first-place Kansas City.

"There are no answers," infielder Damion Easley said. "They just beat us."

The Rays didn't do much to prevent it Thursday. They fell behind early for the third straight game, this time 3-0 in the second as Dewon Brazelton got off to a shaky start, and managed only five hits against Kyle Lohse, who pitched the first complete game shutout against the Rays at the Trop since 2000.

The best thing for the paid crowd 8,699 - making for a three-game total of 26,062 - was a handful of spectacular defensive plays by shortstop Rey Ordonez, whose left knee is so sore he probably won't be in the lineup tonight.

"It's fun watching him play shortstop, it really is," Piniella said. "He knows how to play it, and he does it as well as anybody."

The Twins had a run in the first after three straight singles when Ordonez made a forceout at second, then whirled and caught Cristian Guzman too far off third. They had another run in and were threatening a big inning in the second when Ordonez saved the Rays again, racing back and diving to catch what would have been a looping single by Luis Rivas.

By the end of the night, Ordonez turned three more double plays (one barehanded) and went far to his right for another dazzling play.

Brazelton, the 22-year-old summoned from Triple A to bolster the battered rotation, settled down after the first two innings, mixing in more sliders and changeups, and didn't allow another hit until the seventh.

"In the first inning I was making good pitches and they were hitting them where we weren't, but I just believed in my stuff," Brazelton said.

He didn't get his first win, but he finished with a second respectable start (seven innings, seven hits, three earned runs). Given a rotation that has a 4-16 record and 6.86 ERA, that was something.