Minneapolis ? Joe Mays’ second try at pitching in the postseason was far more memorable for him and the Minnesota Twins.

Retiring his last 13 batters, Mays gave up four hits in eight innings Tuesday night and got the Twins off to a great start in the AL championship series with a 2-1 victory against the Anaheim Angels.

“I never lost my confidence,” Mays said. “I knew I’d get myself back to where I needed to be.”

Mays threw 99 pitches, didn’t allow a walk and struck out three. Eddie Guardado got the save with a hitless ninth.

Rocked for six runs and nine hits in 323 innings of Minnesota’s 9-1 loss to Oakland in Game 2 of the division series, Mays trailed 3-0 after the first inning in that game on a three-run homer by A’s third baseman Eric Chavez.

But Mays needed only eight pitches to get through the first inning Tuesday, giving up a one-out single to Darin Erstad but retiring Tim Salmon on a 6-4-3 double play.

In the dugout between innings, Mays told pitching coach Rick Anderson he was just trying to keep things simple.

“I said, ‘Joe, that’s what we’ve been talking about all year,”‘ Anderson said. “That’s good. Hopefully, he can continue.”

The Angels scored 31 runs on 56 hits in their 3-1 division series victory against the New York Yankees, but Mays silenced their bats.

“Sometimes he tries to overthink himself,” catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “Tonight, he let the ball work for him instead of trying to force it or use mental telepathy.”

Minnesota pitcher Joe Mays throws during Tuesday's game against Anaheim in Minneapolis.

Minnesota led the majors in fielding percentage and its 74 errors were the least in both leagues.

Save for Cristian Guzman’s error, a lazy, two-out grounder by Erstad that squirted through the shortstop’s legs and scored Adam Kennedy in the third inning, the defense was as good as it’s been all year.

Ending a perfect sixth inning, second baseman Luis Rivas made a diving stop of Garret Anderson’s grounder and threw to first base for the out.

Corey Koskie looked like a hockey goalie with a smooth stop of Scott Spiezio’s chopper to third to finish the seventh.

Not even a fan who leaped out of the stands and ran onto the field as Kennedy grounded out to shortstop in the eighth could throw Mays off. He got David Eckstein to ground out to end the inning.

After Guzman’s miscue, Mays let him know he still had faith in his shortstop.

“He goes to me, ‘Let’s go, let’s go. I’ve got your back,”‘ Guzman said. “That’s pretty good.”