After missing the first month of the season with a back injury, Jordan Balazovic found himself easing his way back into the routine of a starting pitcher. Unshackled for the first time on Wednesday, he turned in his best outing to date while putting his club in position to make history.

MLB's No. 75 overall prospect tossed 5 2/3 hitless innings and Double-A Wichita came within two outs of its first no-hitter before settling for an 8-1 win over Amarillo at Hodgetown. Balazovic struck out six, walked two and hit a batter during his longest outing in more than than two years.

"Yeah, I'm just getting comfortable being out there again," Balazovic said. "I'd been so up and down to start the season and wasn't executing pitches. I started to feel better my last start ... more like myself. Tonight, everything felt good and I felt in sync."

Although on a strict pitch count, the No .2 Twins prospect pitched to a 3.72 ERA through his first three starts before hitting a speed bump in his next two outings. Balazovic was charged with eight runs on 19 hits spanning nine innings in those starts, ballooning his ERA to 5.79. The early signs were not encouraging for the right-hander, who walked the first two batters he faced. However, the 22-year-old retired the next three hitters to work out of trouble and found his groove from there. Balazovic allowed just one baserunner over the remainder of his outing, a hit-by-pitch in the third inning.

"It was a little frustrating to walk those first two guys," the Ontario, Canada, native said. "I felt great in the bullpen before the game so to come out and do that was not what I had in mind, but things improved from there."

He retired the final 10 batters he faced and was removed after tossing a season-high 87 pitches, 53 for strikes. It was the third scoreless outing in six starts for Balazovic, who lowered his ERA to 4.44. He'll carry a 33-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 24 1/3 innings into his next start.

"I felt like I got better as the game went on, but I wasn’t trying to think about whether I had given up a hit or not," Balazovic said. "I just stuck with my game plan and made adjustments based off the hitters' swings and their previous at-bats. I was hoping to get that last out in the sixth, but I ran up against my pitch count. The bullpen did a great job after that. It would have been nice if we could have closed [the no-hitter] out, but that's the way it goes."

Minnesota's fifth-round pick in the 2016 Draft, Balazovic burst onto the prospect scene two years later during his first full-season campaign. He followed that up with an even better 2019 when he posted a 2.69 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP while whiffing 129 in 93 2/3 innings spanning 19 appearances (18 starts).

For his career, Balazovic has carved out a 3.43 ERA and is averaging more than 10 strikeouts per nine innings while holding opposing batters to a .230 average.