Minneapolis ? Joe Mays sat through a long rally by his teammates in the sixth inning, and the Minnesota Twins were concerned about how he would emerge.

Just fine, they found out, and Mays kept going all the way through the satisfying end.

Mays scattered seven hits in his first complete game in nearly three years, pitching Minnesota past the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-0, Thursday.

“A lot of people really doubted me, but there was never really a doubt in my mind that I would be back to this point,” said Mays, who struck out two without a walk in 93 pitches. It was his first complete game since a two-hit shutout against Boston on Aug. 16, 2002.

Michael Cuddyer’s two-run double with the bases loaded in the sixth, the culmination of a 13-pitch at-bat, broke a scoreless tie and chased Blue Jays starter Gustavo Chacin. Mike Redmond greeted reliever Jason Frasor with a two-run single.

Mays (3-1) has had success, but this clearly was the big breakout he and the Twins were waiting for following his recovery from elbow surgery that kept him off the mound for 18 months.

Trying to rediscover the form he showed in 2001, when he made the All-Star team and won 17 games with a 3.16 earned-run average, Mays had his sinker working well. Thirteen of the first 21 outs he got came on the ground.

For pitching coach Rick Anderson and manager Ron Gardenhire, the key was to see how Mays pitched the seventh after sitting through a four-run, eight-batter rally in the bottom of the sixth.

Minnesota catcher Mike Redmond, left, congratulates pitcher Joe Mays after Mays tossed a shutout against Toronto. The Twins blanked the Blue Jays, 4-0, Thursday in Minneapolis.

No Blue Jays runner made it past first base until the seventh, when Shea Hillenbrand and Frank Menechino hit back-to-back singles. Anderson came out to talk with Mays, and he was met with a stern greeting.

“He said, ‘I’m finishing this game,”‘ Anderson said. “And I says, ‘It’s yours. Go do it.”‘

Vernon Wells then hit a bouncer to shortstop for a double play, ending the threat.

“I wasn’t coming out, even if Gardy came out there,” Mays said. “We would’ve had a nice little talk.”

Mays gave up two more singles in the eighth and a double in the ninth, but he escaped with the sixth shutout and 10th complete game of his career.

Devil Rays 6, Tigers 2

Detroit – Nick Green and Damon Hollins homered, and Tampa Bay snapped a four-game losing streak.

Scott Kazmir earned his first victory of the season, allowing two runs and three hits in 52â3 innings. He walked four and struck out two.

Kazmir (1-4) departed after he was hit on the right leg by Dmitri Young’s line drive. Seth McClung and Lance Carter held the lead for Danys Baez, who escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and recorded five outs for his fourth save in seven chances.

Mike Maroth, a late substitution for Jeremy Bonderman, took the loss. Maroth (4-3) allowed six runs and nine hits in six innings.

Detroit manager Alan Trammell said before the game that he decided Tuesday to give Bonderman another day off after the pitcher told him his arm “was a little dead.”