MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Brett Anderson was rolling through the Minnesota Twins lineup, breaking bats and changing speeds for seven brilliant innings while the Oakland Athletics were clinging to a 1-0 lead.
In the blink of an eye, it all fell apart in the eighth inning, and Anderson watched another superb outing swirl down the drain.
Joe Mauer and Denard Span delivered RBI singles in the eighth to lift the Minnesota Twins to a 2-1 victory over the Athletics in their home opener on Friday.
In two starts this season, Anderson has received three runs of support. He gave up one run in six innings against Seattle to start the season, but his bullpen and bats failed him in a 5-2 loss to the Mariners.
"You just try to match their guy," Anderson said. "(Carl) Pavano gave up a run in the first and you just try to match him pitch for pitch after that. You give credit to him. He held us in check the rest of the way and I wasn't able to get it done in the eighth. It's frustrating from my standpoint that I wasn't able to hold the lead."
Anderson (0-1) gave up two runs on eight hits and struck out five in eight innings. Three of those hits never reached the outfield and he retired 14 in a row at one point.
Pavano (1-1) gave up one run on four hits in eight innings to get the win.
"He pitched his butt off," A's catcher Kurt Suzuki said. "He kept them off balance, hit his spots, changed speeds well. We should have got a win for him."
After David DeJesus's sacrifice fly gave Anderson a 1-0 lead in the first inning, the young lefty mowed down the Twins, keeping them off balance with an assortment of off-speed pitches. He faced the minimum number of hitters in innings 2-7, getting double plays to end the sixth and seventh.
"That's their ace out there on the mound," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He really kept our hitters at bay for a while."
That 1-0 lead felt like a five-run advantage the way Anderson was throwing when he took the ball to start the eighth inning. He gave up another infield single to Danny Valencia with one out, then got Luke Hughes to pop out to left field. But pinch-hitter Jason Kubel hooked a single down the right field line and Span and Mauer each followed with run-scoring hits to put the Twins ahead.
"I made a good pitch to Kubel inside," Anderson said. "The pitch that Span hit was the same one that broke his bat before, it just seemed a tick out of the reach of gloves. That's the way baseball is sometimes."