Righthander Trevor May on Friday had his best outing of the year, pitching seven shutout innings for Class AA New Britain in a 2-0 win over Portland.

May, who came over with Vance Worley in the Ben Revere trade, held Portland to two singles and one walk while striking out 10. He's allowed one earn run over his last 14 innings. He's the first Rock Cats pitcher to strike out ten in a game since Kyle Gibson in 2010.

And he had some good stuff to say to milb.com about the groove he's in:

Besides a rough outing against Harrisburg at the end of April, he's hallowed two runs or fewer in each of his other six starts. He's struck out 37 and walked 19 over 39 1/3 innings in his first season with the Twins.

``The biggest thing was finding out what was keeping me struggling. As a whole, I was not happy [with last season], it was a step back," May said. "It's very similar [in New Britain], pretty much pitching is the same anywhere, and for me it was finding out what worked for me mentally and keeping on a routine and a program and making sure my focus is where it needs to be.

``I've done a lot of work. Last year, I was throwing well at the end, and with the program I have, I've evolved from Spring Training and into this season and it's paying off. I'm able to kind of get myself where I need to be mentally. It's all come along, so I'm definitely happy with the progress."

Thomas still out

Outfielder Clete Thomas' return from a sore quad has been pushed back to Monday. The Twins have been consistent in saying that Aaron Hicks will be given chances to get his game going with the big league club. Thomas got off to a fine start at Rochester, hitting .346 in 25 games. He loomed as the best option if the Twins changed their minds about Hicks, but now he's banged up.

Shameless plug

Check out the latest installment of the minor league report. Wrote a litte about Jorge Polanco, who was part of the international signing class with Miguel Sano and Max Kepler. Polanco signed or $750,000 out of the Dominican Republic. After a couple of years, he's starting to come on.