Ho hum, another no-hitter: Garza throws latest gem.

As a comparison, it happened six times by that date last season.

“I don’t know if there are any explanations for it,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. “It runs in cycles and you just go through it.”

CC Sabathia got it started with a near no-no at Tampa Bay on April 10, and the list of close calls features youngsters from Ricky Romero and Travis Wood to established stars such as John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Of course, several finished the job. Oakland left-hander Dallas Braden retired all 27 batters against Tampa Bay on May 9 and Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay duplicated the feat 20 days later at Florida, making this the only season besides 1880 to include a pair of perfect games.

Arizona’s Edwin Jackson and Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez also threw no-hitters — not to mention the perfect game Detroit right-hander Armando Galarraga was denied because of a missed call at first base by umpire Jim Joyce.

“It’s pretty unbelievable. I don’t know. It’s not an easy thing to do,” said Boston Red Sox pitcher Clay Buchholz, who tossed a no-hitter in his second major league start on Sept. 1, 2007.

“I don’t remember ever hearing about it happening like this. Maybe guys are preparing a little bit better and sticking to their game plan throughout the game. It takes a lot of luck to do it. That’s one of the key things. You’ve got to have a couple of good plays in the field.”

Ted Lilly of the Chicago Cubs and Gavin Floyd of the crosstown White Sox even had dueling no-hitters going into the bottom of the seventh inning at Wrigley Field on June 13.

Wrigley Field on June 13.

Tampa Bay has been involved in three no-hitters this season, shut down by Braden and Jackson before Garza’s gem Monday on a night when the Rays didn’t manage a hit themselves until Matt Joyce’s sixth-inning grand slam off Tigers starter Max Scherzer.