Hisashi Iwakuma shuts out Twins… again.

Twins pitcher Correia wasn’t as sharp as Mariners righthander Hishashi Iwakuma on Monday. Iwakuma’s pitches dipped, dived and dodged Twins bats for seven shutout innings. He gave up four hits with no walks while striking out 10. He has not given up an earned run in 36 2/3 innings against the Twins, a span of five starts. Iwakuma was getting the low strilke called, then he flustered Twins hitters as they chased an unhittable split-fingered fastball that dropped out of the strike zone.

His curveball had bite, and his changeup flummoxed hitters all night.Iwakuma became the second pitcher since 1914 to hold an opponent to no earned runs in his first five career starts against that team.

“He was throwing them all for strikes,” Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe said. “When he’s got that working, it is hard to get rid of one of them. Obviously, you don’t want to sit on his splitter, you want to hit his fastball. But he was locating that today and getting ahead with it.”

via Gardenhire wrestles with decision in 2-0 loss to Mariners | Star Tribune.