Weaver prolongs Twins' epic offensive drought

For the fifth time in team history, the Minnesota Twins finished a game without a hit. There was simply nothing the Twins could do Wednesday against Angels starter Jered Weaver, who tossed the first no-hitter of his career and the ninth in team history. Weaver got ahead in counts, changed speeds and simply made the Twins' batters look uncomfortable. In the end, it was a 9-0 Angels win that had Minnesota on the wrong side of history. "A terrible night for Twins baseball," manager Ron Gardenhire said. Only two base runners prevented Weaver from throwing a perfect game against the Twins. Minnesota first baseman Chris Parmelee struck out swinging with two outs in the second inning but advanced to first base after the ball got behind catcher Chris Iannetta. In the seventh inning, left fielder Josh Willingham drew a two-out walk off Weaver, the only walk he issued all night. It marks the fifth time in team history that the Twins were no-hit, and the first time since Yankees starter David Wells no-hit them on May 17, 1998 in New York. The three other pitchers to no-hit the Twins were California's Nolan Ryan in 1974, Oakland's Vida Blue in 1970 and A's pitcher Jim "Catfish" Hunter in 1968. The last no-hitter the Twins were involved in was last season, when left-hander Francisco Liriano tossed one against the Chicago White Sox despite walking six batters. In fact, Liriano's no-hitter the sixth in Twins history came on May 3, 2011, nearly one year to the day of Weaver's performance. The final out Wednesday came off the bat of Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla. Somewhat fittingly, Casilla's fly ball to deep right field was caught by Angels right fielder Torii Hunter, who spent 11 years with the Twins before signing with Los Angeles prior to the 2008 season. "I gotta get it," Hunter said of Casilla's fly to right. "I was running full speed and I knew the wall was coming up. I just said, 'I'm going to catch the ball and hit this wall, knock myself out and raise my hands up.' I had to do it. My guy was out there pitching his butt off." After Hunter snagged the final out, the Angels mobbed their pitcher and celebrated on the mound as fans chanted "Weaver! Weaver! Weaver!" Meanwhile, the Twins were left hitless and fell to 6-18 on the season. While Weaver had no-hit stuff for the Angels on Wednesday, Twins starter Liam Hendriks was on the opposite end of the spectrum. The 23-year-old right-hander allowed six runs on nine hits in just 2 13 innings, putting Minnesota's offense in an early hole. Not that it really mattered, as Weaver was on his game from the first pitch to the 121st and final pitch of the night. "We got dominated by a very good pitcher over there, but we played terrible," Gardenhire said. "We didn't pitch worth a crap, not aggressive, missed a play or two and got no-hit by a very good pitcher over there, which doesn't make it any easier for our baseball team." Perhaps the best chance the Twins had to break up Weaver's no-hitter came in the top of the eighth inning when infielder Trevor Plouffe hit a pitch deep to the left field corner. But the ball hooked just wide of the left field foul pole, narrowly missing a home run. Three pitches later, Plouffe popped out to first for the second out of the inning, and Weaver's no-hitter remained intact. Wednesday's historic night was the second game in a row in which the Twins' offense couldn't muster anything against the Angels' pitching. On Tuesday, journeyman right-hander Jerome Williams threw the second shutout of his career the other came in his rookie season in 2003. Williams held Minnesota to just three hits, all singles, in the Angels' 4-0 win. Do the math: Two days, 18 innings, three singles, zero runs. The Twins also struck out a combined 15 times between the two games, including nine during Weaver's no-hitter. They haven't had a runner in scoring position since the eighth inning of Monday's series opener. Weaver will follow up his no-hit effort on Monday. The opponent? The same Minnesota Twins he held without a hit Wednesday in Anaheim. Jonny Vander Meer, watch out.Robby Incmikoski contributed to this report.Follow Tyler Mason on Twitter.