TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
Hitting for the cycle is a rare occurrence and only ten Twins players can say that they have one on their resume. The only Twin to hit for the so-called natural cycle (1B, 2B, 3B, and HR in that order) was Carlos Gomez in 2008. The first Twins cycle was hit by Rod Carew in 1970 and the Minnesota Twins as you know started play back in 1961. Two Twins players hit for the cycle at Met Stadium and two Twins players hit for the cycle at the Metrodome, so far the only cycle at Target Field is by Adrian Beltre of the Texas Rangers.
Eddie Rosario
Many players came up just a hit short, 119 came up a home run short, 288 came up a triple short, 44 players came up a double short. Twelve different Twins players had the misfortune of just missing the cycle by coming up a single short, missed it by just this much…… Eddie Rosario is in this group and he missed his last year at Target Field.
What’s better than triple-double? How about a triple-triple.
Eduardo Nunez, Shane Robinson, and Eduardo Escobar all tripled in the sixth inning for the Twins yesterday. And if that doesn’t seem unusual enough for you consider this: Minnesota scored only one run in the inning, with Robinson getting picked off and Escobar getting stranded. The Twins did win the game 4-3.
It was the first time since the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961 that the Twins had three triples in one inning. And it was the first instance in the expansion era of a team scoring only once despite three triples in an inning. The other 20 teams to do so averaged 4.6 runs in those innings. Source:ELIAS
The Twins scored three runs in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium and that was the extent of the scoring in their 3-0 victory over the Royals. It was the first major-league game this season in which neither team scored after the top of the first inning–there were five last year–and it was the Twins’ first win in a game of that kind since July 1994, when an RBI-groundout by Kirby Puckett in the opening frame held up in a 1-0 decision over the Rangers in Arlington.
I have followed baseball for a long time and it seems like the New York Yankees are always beating the Minnesota Twins. Truth or myth? I decided to check it out with an assist from baseball-reference.com .
It turns that the Yankees are indeed the toughest team to beat for our home town nine. Since 1961 they have played the Yankees 600 times and won just 252 of those match-ups for a .421 winning percentage. Actually I am surprised that the winning percentage is as high as it is because it seems like the Twins always lose to the Yankees.
Who do the Twins beat up on most frequently? That would be the Senators/Rangers franchise whom the Twins have played 696 times and whipped them on 366 occasions for a .527 winning percentage. I have left the Houston Astros off the list since their time in the American League just started last season and I have included the Brewers/Pilots franchise since the Twins play them every year even though they have been in the National League for many of these years.
Here is how the Minnesota Twins stack up against the rest of the American League since 1961.
The Angels won their season series against the Twins, seven-games-to-none. The Halos have swept only one other season series of seven or more games in their history (seven games versus the Royals in 2004) but it’s the fourth time that the Twins have been swept in a season series of at least seven games (12 games versus the Rangers in 1999, seven games against the Yankees in both 2003 and 2009).
The Twins beat up on the Detroit Tigers 20-6 last night at Target Field in front of 29,394 fans that had to watch 3 hours and 59 minutes of baseball if they wanted to see the games final pitch. The Twins are the first AL team this season to score 20 runs in a game and this is the most runs ever scored by the Twins in a game at Target Field.
This is the 13th time in franchise history and the eighth time in Twins team history that the team has scored 20 or more runs in a game. The Detroit Tigers have been the unlucky victims of the Twins/Senators 20 or more runs parade on five occasions, four times by the Twins and once by the Washington Senators.
The Twins previous high for runs scored in a game at Target field occurred on July 16, 2012 when they out-scored the Baltimore Orioles 19-7. The Twins have had 20 runs scored against them just three times and always on the road. The Twins lost to the Kansas City A’s 20-2 on April 25, 1961, they lost 23-6 to the Kansas City Royals on April 6, 1974 and they lost a 20-6 game to the Texas Rangers on July 25, 2011.
Here is what ELIAS had to say about the game: Eduardo Escobar led the Twins’ 20-hit attack, going 5-for-6 from the eighth slot in the lineup, in their 20-6 victory over the Tigers. He was the first major-league player to collect five hits, including a home run, in a game from either the eighth or ninth slot in the lineup since Detroit’s Carlos Pena generated six hits, including a pair of homers, at Kansas City back in 2004.
Eduardo Escobar
Escobar’s night began with a second-inning homer off Robbie Ray, and he followed with a single off Blaine Hardy, a triple off Jim Johnson, a single off Joba Chamberlain and another single off pitcher-for-a-day infielder Andrew Romine. Escobar became the second Twins player this month to get hits off five different pitchers in the same game – Danny Santana did it against the White Sox on August 3 – something no other big-leaguer has done this season.
And just to complete the story, we note that Escobar also made a pair of errors at shortstop on Friday night. The last major-leaguer with at least five hits and at least two errors in the same game was Kansas City’s Angel Berroa, who did it in a game at Cleveland in September 2003.
For the Twins, their 20-run, 20-hit performance marked just the eighth time in modern major-league history that a team had posted those exact numbers – and three of those eight games have been produced by the Twins. Minnesota went 20/20 against the Athletics in 1980 and against the White Sox in 2009.
In yesterday’s Minnesota Twins 6-5 loss to the New York Yankees at Target Field Yankee second baseman Brian Roberts went four for five with four extra base (three doubles and a triple) hits.
You don’t see that too often so it was time for me to see how often this feat has been done by a Twins player in a 9 inning game. Come to find out it has been done only six times by the Twins and the only player to do it twice was the late great Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett.
The most XBH in a regulation nine inning game since 1961 stands at five. The players that accomplished this were Josh Hamilton (TEX) with four HR and a 2B in 2012, Shawn Green (LAD) with four HR and a 2B in 2002, Steve Garvey (LAD) with three 2B and 2 HR in 1977 and Willie Stargell (PIT) with three 2B and 2 HR in 1970. Catcher Kelly Shoppach (CLE) also had three doubles and a 2 HR in 2008 but it was in a 13 extra-inning game. As far as I can tell, no player has ever had more than five XBH in a game going back to 1914.
6/11/1964 – The LA Angels trade outfielder Frank Kostro to the Twins for 1B Vic Power and outfielder Lenny Green. Certainly not one of the better trades in Twins history.
6/11/1965 – The Twins sweep the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium by a 5-4 score in both games with the first game going 10 innings and the second game going 12 innings. Tiger reliever Terry Fox takes the loss in both games. Boxscore: Game 1, Game 2
6/11/1972– Jim Kaat hits a home run off Cleveland pitcher Vince Colbert in a Twins 5-3 victory at Cleveland Stadium. This now stands as the last home run that has been hit by a Twins pitcher. Boxscore
6/11/1986– The Twins lose to the Texas Rangers 6-2 in sixteen innings at the Metrodome. The game is tied 2-2 after 9 innings and both starters, Charlie Hough for the Rangers and Allan Anderson for the Twins are still in the game. Anderson ends up going 10 and Hough keeps throwing that knuckler of his for 13 innings. The Rangers score 4 in the top of the 16th inning off Roy Lee Jackson for the win. Boxscore
6/11/2010 – Francisco Liriano ties a team record when he strikes out 7 consecutive Atlanta Braves batters in a 2-1 win at Target Field. Liriano used his slider to strike out Martin Prado and Jason Heyward to end the third inning. He struck out Chipper Jones on a slider, Troy Glaus on a change-up and Brian McCann on a slider to get through the fourth. Liriano opened the fifth by striking out Yunel Escobar on a slider and Omar Infante with a change-up. Jim Merritt also accomplished this feat on July 21, 1966 against the Washington Senators.
6/11/2011 – One of only three Cy Young Award winners (1970) in Twins history, right-hander Jim Perry was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame today. Jim, 75, is the older brother of 72-year-old Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry. Between the two of them, the Perry brothers won 529 games and three Cy Young Awards, as Gaylord won the honor in 1972 with the Indians and in ’78 with the Padres. The Perry brothers are the second-winningest brother combination in baseball history behind Joe Niekro and Phil Niekro, who had 539 victories between them.
Last night Cleveland Indians third baseman Lonnie Chisenhall had a game for the ages, going 5-for-5 with three home runs and nine RBIs in the Indians’ 17-7 win over the Rangers. Chisenhall was the first player since 1920, when the majors started compiling RBIs, to bat 1.000 in a game with as many as three homers and nine RBIs.
So the question for today is: Since the Twins came into existence in 1961 they have had 54 instances of a Twins batter getting six or more RBIs in a single game. Three former Twins have done it on four occasions. Can you name these three Minnesota Twins hitters?
The answer is Tony Oliva, Torii Hunter, and Jason Kubel
Bonus question: Two Twins catchers have had games where they had seven RBIs in a single game, can you name these catchers?
The answer is Joe Mauer and A.J Pierzynski
No prizes, just testing your Twins history knowledge and your memory. GOOD LUCK!
The Twins announced yesterday morning that they have signed free agent DH/first baseman Kendrys Morales to a one year, prorated, $12 million deal. The prorated dollars come out to about $7.5 million. Since Morales who is represented by Scott Boras will not spend the full season with the Twins, they will not be able to extend him a qualifying offer next off-season. Rumors were rampant as early as Saturday that the Twins and Morales had agreed on a deal but it was not announced until after a physical was completed. Morales will wear uniform number 17 as a Minnesota Twin.
The Cuban born Morales who will be 31 in a few days has played in 620 career games, hitting .280 with 130 doubles, 102 home runs, 345 RBI, 280 runs scored and 165 walks. He was originally signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent in 2005. The Angels traded Morales to the Seattle Mariners in 2012 for pitcher Jason Vargas. Morales became a free agent after the 2013 season.
Morales was one of several players this offseason who struggled in the free agent market after declining a $14.5 million qualifying offer. Stephen Drew only recently signed his prorated one-year deal with the Red Sox, and outfielder Nelson Cruz ultimately took a one-year deal with the Orioles. All three players ended up with significantly less than they would have gotten if they had accepted their qualifying offers.
The Twins immediately placed the switch-hitting Kendrys Morales on their 25 man roster and to clear a roster spot the team designated outfielder Jason Kubel for assignment. Kubel was the Twins 12th round pick in 2000 and made his big league debut with the club in August 2004. Kubel left Minnesota as a free agent after the 2011 season and signed with Arizona where he played in 2012 and part of 2013 before the D-backs traded him to Cleveland for cash and a PTBNL. Kubel again tried free agency after the 2013 season and ended up resigning with his original team, the Minnesota Twins. Kubel had a strong April but fell on difficult times in May. Kubel appeared in 45 games for the Twins this season, hitting .224 (35-for-156) with one home run, six doubles and 13 RBI.
The Morales signing was kind of surreptitious as Minnesota was not linked to being in the hunt for Morales. According to the so-called experts teams like the Orioles, Rangers, and the Yankees were the front-runners to sign Morales. The timing of Terry Ryan and the Twins however; was impeccable as the Rangers just lost Mitch Moreland for at least 3 months for ankle reconstruction and they might have made a serious run at Morales and priced the Twins out of the market. Just a week or so earlier the Rangers lost their starting first baseman Prince Fielder for the season due to neck surgery.
Most Twins fans were shocked or at the very least pleasantly surprised with the Morales signing which seems to go against the grain of how the club has operated and looked at free agents in the past. With the club in last place in the AL Central, adding a player of this caliber in early June with no guarantee of signing him for the future does not seem to make a lot of sense from a baseball perspective. The Twins are 29-32 and last in the division but they are only 5 games out of the first place and a case can be made that they are in the playoff hunt but realistically you have to say that the odds are slim at best. Jumping over four teams in your division is not an easy task when each team in the division has to play each other 18 times. The wild card is a better possibility but that too is a long shot this year.
There is no doubt that the 2014 Twins are hitting challenged. The Twins have scored 266 runs this season which averages out to 4.36 runs per game, at the current pace the team will score about 706 runs. The Twins best runs per game average was 5.41 in 1996 and their worst was 3.44 in 1981. Last year the Twins scored runs at a pace of 3.79 per game, third worst in team history. This years team is hitting for a .245 batting average, sixth worst in their 54 year team history. Their RISP average this season is .228 which is the second worst RISP in team history and the only Twins team that had a lower RISP (at .225) was you guessed it, the 2013 Twins. How long has Tom Brunansky been the hitting coach? Oh yeah, two years. Maybe the Twins front office should look to make some changes there also. I know you need to have good players but maybe the hitting strategy of the hitting coach is just not a good match here.
So why else would the Twins invest $7.5 million in a player for about 100 games with the team in last place? The Twins business side has to be screaming “help me!”. Fan attendance at Target Field has been dropping like a rock since 2011 and even the fact that Minnesota is hosting the 2014 All-Star game can’t stop the attendance slide. Since 2010 when Target Field opened with a season ticket base of 25,000, the season ticket holder base has dropped to 23,000 in 2012, 19,000 in 2013, and 17,000 this season and would have dropped a lot lower had the lure of tickets to the 2014 All-Star game not caused some fans to hold on for just one more season.
The Twins appear to have bottomed out in 2013 and are on the way back towards respectability with some nice free agents signings, some trades and a strong farm system bolstered by high draft choices due to the teams poor play since 2010. The Twins may be playing better baseball but attendance is down about 4,574 fans per game this season and the Twins need to turn that around as soon as possible and the best way to do that is to put a good product on the field. You can’t make the Twins a playoff contender over night but an investment of about $7.5 million in Morales sends a message to the team and its loyal fans that it is willing to spend money to make money. There is not a business in existence today that will not tell you that it is much less expensive to retain a loyal customer then it is to try to attract a new loyal customer. That is one of the reasons that the Twins signed Kendrys Morales to play at Target Field. The Twins are not stupid, they are being proactive for a change instead of being strictly reactive and doing what they can to generate fan interest while this team is rebuilding.
I understand why the Twins need a player like Kendrys Morales from a baseball perspective and why they need him from a business perspective but I can’t help thinking that there is more here then meets the eye. I believe in my gut feelings, don’t believe in coincidences and I have said many times before that my “glass is half empty and is leaking” philosophy has served me well during my years. I have followed the Twins since 1961 and I have found that the Twins front office has on occasion been less than forthright over the years. I don’t hold that against them as most professional teams keep their information close to the vest. An injury perhaps? Maybe there is reason they don’t want to divulge on why Joe Mauer is playing so badly other than bad luck? Maybe a big trade is in the works?
I personally like the move but I don’t see it making a huge difference in the standings, I see it more as a symbolic move to the fans that says “see, we will spend money to put a winner on the field; hang with us as we get better”. So what is the real reason the Twins are willing to fork over $7.5 million dollars to Kendrys Morales for 100 games and will there gamble pay off? I guess we will just have to wait and see, time will tell.
