Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Serafini, Erickson, Torve and Thompson

We have four big league debuts as Minnesota Twins on June 25.

Dan Serafini

Dan Serafini (P) – June 25, 1996 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (26th pick) of the 1992 amateur draft. Started against the Yankees in the second game of a DH at the Dome but after 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks he found himself headed for the showers after 4.1 innings.

 

Scott Erickson

Scott Erickson (P) – June 25, 1990 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 4th round of the 1989 amateur draft. First time on a big league mound was at the Dome in a start against the Rangers. Erickson pitched 6 innings and allowed one run on four hits and two walks and earned his first big league victory. Everybody loved Scottie, especially the ladies.

Kelvin Torve (1B) – June 25, 1988 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins on January 18, 1988. Pinch-hit in his first appearance in a big league, unfortunately it was against Oakland and Dennis Eckersley and he went down swinging.

 

Danny Thompson

Danny Thompson (SS/3B/2B) – June 25, 1970 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (18th pick) of the 1968 amateur draft (June Secondary). Thompson took and 0 for 4 with a strike out in his big league debut at County Stadium against the Milwaukee Brewers.

To see other Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins

According to ELIAS

Three extra-base hits by a Twins rookie

Eddie Rosario
Eddie Rosario

Twins rookie Eddie Rosario hit a double, a triple and a home run in Minnesota’s win over the Mariners on Thursday, six days after he recorded three doubles in a game against the Yankees. Rosario is the first Minnesota Twins rookie ever to have two games with at least three extra-base hits in one season. The only other rookie in the major leagues with two such games this season is the Cardinals’ Randal Grichuk. Source – ELIAS

Rosario went 3-5 last night, scored three times and knocked in three runs. Eddie Rosario fell a single short of becoming the 11th Twin and second Twins rookie to ever hit for the cycle (Gary Ward – 1980).

 

Walker dominates Twins

Taijuan Walker
Taijuan Walker

Taijuan Walker, who will turn 23 years old on August 13, threw a one-hit complete game and struck out 11 batters against the Twins on Friday. Since 1969, only four other pitchers have thrown a complete-game allowing no more than one hit with double-digit strikeouts before turning 23 years old: Dennis Eckersley in his no-hitter in 1977, Dwight Gooden in 1984, Kerry Wood in his 20-strikeout game in 1998, and Shelby Miller in 2013.

This Day in Twins History – August 17, 1999

Jesse OroscoBaltimore Orioles Jesse Orosco set a major league record by pitching in his 1,072nd game, breaking a tie with Dennis Eckersley atop the career list. The 42-year-old Orosco took the mound with two outs in the seventh inning of Baltimore’s 8-3 victory over Minnesota at Camden Yards. Orosco was originally drafted by Minnesota in 1978 but did not pitch for them until 2003 which was his 24th and final big league season. Orosco played for 9 different major league organizations, some more than once. Orosco remains the all-time leader in games pitched with 1,252, in all those games, Orosco had just 4 starts. Jesse Orosco also has the rare distinction of playing in the major leagues in four different decades. To see a nice recap of his 24 year career stop by Simply Baseball Notebook.

This Day in Twins History

9/16/1970 – Pitcher Clyde Wright becomes the California Angels second ever 20 game winner when he beat the Twins and Bert Blyleven 5-1 at Met Stadium. Bert Blyleven, a 19-year old rookie, ties an AL record by striking out the first six batters (Sandy Alomar, Tony Gonzalez, Jim Fregosi, Alex Johnson, Ken McMullen, and Jay Johnstone). He strikes out 10 in 6 2/3 innings.

9/16/1983 – Minnesota’s Tim Teufel goes 5-for-5 with a triple and the first 2 home runs of his ML career in an 11-4 win over the Blue Jays and in the process becomes the first Twin to get 5 hits in a single game at the Metrodome. Teufel becomes the only Twins player to ever get 5 hits and score 5 runs in a game. Teufel ends up with 13 total bases for the game.

9/16/1993 – Dave Winfield of the Minnesota Twins became the 19th player in major league history to get 3,000 hits with a single off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley at the Metrodome in a 13 inning 5-3 Twins win. In the process Winfield became the first player wearing a Twins uniform to get his 3,000th hit.

9/16/1996 – Paul Molitor gets his 3,000th career hit, becoming the 21st major leaguer to reach the mark and the first to do it with a triple (off Jose Rosado) while the Twins were on the road in Kansas City. The ‘Ignitor’ reaches this milestone in the same season in which he also collects 200 hits, making him the only player to accomplish both feats in the same campaign. The Twins end up losing the game 6-5.

This Day in Twins History – January 6, 2004

Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley are named to the MLB Hall of Fame by the baseball writers. Molitor, a Minnesota native, played for the Twins from 1996 through 1998 after playing for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1983-1992 and the Toronto Blue Jays from 1993-1995. Molitor got hit number 3,000 as a Minnesota Twin and finished his career with 3,319 hits.