MINNEAPOLIS -- Considering how he’s felt most of the time after facing the Twins, Kevin Gausman was feeling pretty decent on Friday. The Blue Jays came up short, dropping the series opener, 2-0, at Target Field, but Gausman certainly did his job.

The veteran right-hander held the Twins hitless into the fourth inning and allowed just two runs over 5 2/3 innings. He walked four and gave up four hits while striking out four.

Compare that line to his numbers against the Twins as a Blue Jay -- Gausman has now made seven starts against Minnesota, including Game 1 of last year’s AL Wild Card Series, and he has a 5.85 ERA in 32 1/3 innings over those seven outings.

Against the rest of the league? As a Blue Jay, Gausman has pitched to a 3.37 ERA over 488 1/3 innings.

“They’ve always kind of been my kryptonite, especially the last couple of years,” Gausman said. “For whatever reason their lineup always kinda gives me trouble. Tonight I thought we pitched really well, but four walks and still sitting here with a loss so, not great. But I guess it’s a step in the right direction against them.”

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said the team identified a few adjustments that Gausman could make against the Twins, and for the most part, they were successful.

“I think there are certain tendencies that he has that they’re probably on,” Schneider said. “He located his fastball down in the zone today. It’s a pretty obvious approach they have when they are good against him about just swinging at the balls up, and I thought he did a good job of pairing that with fastballs down today.”

Gausman kept the Twins off the board for four innings, but they finally touched him for a pair of runs in the fifth. The inning started with Jose Miranda lining a double, before noted Blue Jays agitator Carlos Santana singled him home.

After Ryan Jeffers walked, Austin Martin dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners up a base, before Willi Castro plated the second run with a sacrifice fly.

“Probably the pitch I’d wish to have back is the leadoff double to Miranda,” Gausman said. “Just a fastball too much in the zone, but for the most part I thought we did a good job of kind of mixing it up and trying to keep them off balance as much as we can.”

The pitching matchup was a rematch of Game 1 of last year’s AL Wild Card Series, with Gausman facing off against Pablo López. The Twins’ right-hander was on his game that day, as he was again on Friday, holding the Blue Jays hitless until the fifth and ending up throwing 7 2/3 scoreless innings.

But unlike last October, Gausman got the best of Royce Lewis. The Twins’ third baseman homered in his first two at-bats of the Wild Card Series, but on Friday he grounded out, struck out and blooped a soft single to right in his three at-bats against Gausman.

“He got me on two fastballs last year. [I threw] some good splits that he kind of spit on,” Gausman said. “I’m still gonna throw him fastballs, it’s one of my best pitches. I only gave up three hits [in Game 1] last year and two of them happened to leave the park.”

Gausman was 6-1 in his previous eight starts entering Friday, which helped resurrect a season that started rough and turned into a bit of a roller coaster until he found his stride after the All-Star break.

“I feel like I’m right there. A couple of adjustments mechanically that I’ve made I think have led to me throwing more strikes and getting ahead,” he said. “This year’s been a grind for me obviously, hasn’t been nearly as sharp as last year was.”