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2023 – The Twins beat the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre by a score of 3-2 in 10 innings, making them 6-3 in extra-inning games this season. Sonny Gray was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing one run on five hits in 5 innings pitched. Jhoan Duran (2-2) pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief and earned the win. Duran stranded six runners in the outing, leaving the bases full of Jays in the ninth inning and leaving two men on in the 10th inning, all while throwing a season-high 38 pitches (2 short of his career-high of 40, done July 16, 2022 vs. CWS). The offense recorded seven hits, four from Royce Lewis (all singles). Michael A. Taylor added his ninth home run of the season and drove in all three of Minnesota’s runs. Box Score
2022 – Twins jump the Yankees early but can’t hold on for the win. The Twins lost to the Yankees at Target Field by a score of 10-7, scoring all seven of their runs runs in the first three innings and were up 7-3 after three innings but the Yankees scored the next seven runs for the win. Dylan Bundy was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing four runs on five hits in 4 innings pitched with two home runs allowed. The Twins offense recorded nine hits, five going for home runs, two from Byron Buxton (14 & 15) and one apiece from Luis Arraez (2), Carlos Correa (4) and Trevor Larnach (5). The Twins began the game with three straight homers by Arraez, Buxton and Correa, which marked the seventh time in baseball history for a team to begin a game with three consecutive homers and the first time it had happened in Twins/Senators history. The nine home runs combined from both teams tied the Target Field record of most in a single game in the ballpark’s history, the previous occurrence was Twins-Astros on May 31, 2017. The Twins hit all five of their home runs off Yankee starter Gerrit Cole and sent him to an early shower after 2.1 innings but he still escaped with a ND. The Yankees continue to have the Twins number and have won 10 of the 12 series played at Target Field. The first three batters in the Twins line-up often are Arraez, Buxton and Correa and have picked up the nickname of the A,B,C’s. Box Score
2021 – A pre-game deluge (followed by a rainbow that spanned the entire ballpark) pushed a scheduled 7:10 p.m. first pitch back to 7:21 p.m., for an 11-minute delay. When all was said and done the Twins might have wished the game was washed out after the Twins lost to the Yankees at Target Field by a score of 6-9, scoring four runs in the ninth inning.. They entered the game having scored just five ninth-inning runs all season. Randy Dobnak (1-6) was the starter and loser, allowing a career-high eight runs on 11 hits in 4.2 innings pitched, including a career-worst four home runs. Twins bats recorded 11 hits, three from Miguel Sanó, who singled twice and hit his team-leading 12th home run. Jorge Polanco homered twice (both from the left side), his second career multi-homer game and his seventh and eighth of the season. Gilberto Celestino went 1-for-4, singling off Brooks Kriske for his first major league hit. Box Score
2020 – The Twins should be in Baltimore to play the Orioles….. In reality nothing has changed, all the games this season have been postponed/cancelled due to COVID-19. We have now missed 68 games.
2019 – The Twins conclude their ten game (6-4) road trip with a 12-2 pounding of the Detroit Tigers. The Twins jump out to a quick 3-0 lead powered by a run scoring double off the bat of Mitch Garver and a two-run home run by Nelson Cruz (11). By the time the scoring had ended, Miguel Sano (6), Byron Buxton (8) and Eddie Rosario (19) had all hit home runs. The lucky recipient of all the runs was starter Jake Odorizzi who went six innings throwing 99 pitches, giving up just a single run while striking out 8 and coasted to his ninth win making his record 9-2. The 43-21 Twins are headed home for a nice home stand with a 10.5 game lead in the AL Central. The Twins have won 13 of their last 18 and 18 of their last 24. Box Score.
In off the field news, retired professional baseball player David Ortiz and a former Minnesota Twin was shot and severely wounded while at a bar in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Big Papi survived and received emergency medical treatment, while an investigation quickly resulted in the arrest of several suspects in the attack. Ortiz was wounded in a shooting in Santo Domingo in what police called a case of mistaken identity. A hired gunman drove up on a motorcycle and fired at close range, hitting him in the torso, police said. Ortiz was forced to have his gallbladder removed and part of his intestine following the shooting. He was flown back to Boston the next day, where he had more surgery. He was released from the hospital on July 26.
2018 – The game was delayed four hours due to rain and started at 5:10 first pitch, the second longest delay in Target Field’s history, the previous being 4:50 on June 22 versus the Chicago White Sox in 2017. The Twins ended up losing to Tyler Skaggs and the Angels by a score of 2-1, suffering their 13th one-run loss of the season. The Twins have won just three one run games to this point of the 2018 season. Kyle Gibson was the starter and loser, allowing two runs on five hits in 7.0 innings pitched (118 pitches), the only runs allowed were solo homers by Ian Kinsler and Albert Pujols. Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario each had two hits. Box Score
“The Minnesota Twins are grateful for our fans patience with today’s weather delay,” Twins President & CEO Dave St. Peter said. “Understanding the lengthy delay, we feel it’s appropriate to invite all fans holding tickets for today’s game to come back for a future ballgame compliments of the Twins.”
2008 – No game today, scheduled day off.
2007 – The Twins played the Washington Nationals with Johan Santana on the mound for the home town Twins. When all was said and done the Twins came up on the short end of a 3-1 game. Santana threw 100 pitches in 7 innings, allowed 3 runs (2 earned) and struck out five but a 3-run home run he allowed to Ryan Zimmerman in the third inning wiped out a 1-0 Twins lead courtesy of a Justin Morneau second inning home run. That turned out to be all the scoring that would take place on that day but there is more to this game than meets the eye. The Nats starter and winner was Levale Speigner, he threw 85 pitches in six innings allowing 2 his and 1 run, the Morneau home run. So what is the big deal? Speigner was drafted by the Twins in the 14th round of the 2003 June amateur draft and by 2006 had worked his way up to AAA Rochester. Then on December 6, 2006 the Nats drafted him from Minnesota in the Rule 5 draft. Speigner made the Nats team and made his major league debut on Opening Day April 2, 2007 by pitching 2.1 innings of relief in a Nats 9-2 to the Marlins. The Nationals used Speigner strictly in relief until late May when they turned him into a starter. In his first start Speigner allowed 8 runs and then 7 runs in his next start and he was the loser in both games. The game against Minnesota was his third start and as it turned out the only big league start in which he would be the winning pitcher. In addition, it would be his final big league victory. On June 20, 2007 he was returned to Minnesota but just four days later the Nats worked out a trade with the Twins to get Speigner back and sent Darnell McDonald to Minnesota in return. Speigner spent one year in the Nationals system before becoming a free agent and moving on to the Marlins in 2009 and the Mariners in 2010 and then baseball was history. One win as a starter in the big leagues and it turned out to be against the team that drafted him.
Battered Rule 5 draft pick Speigner bests Twins’ Santana
2003 – No game today, scheduled day off.
2000 – Bobblemania hits Minnesota. The Twins had their first Bobblehead give-away and Twins fan’s went gaga for the little figurines. The first Bobble head given away was of Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew and there were 5,000 given away that day with Mountain Dew as the sponsor. Fans (including me) lined up outside the Metrodome for hours before the gates opened to get an opportunity at the give-away and with-in 5 minutes of the gates opening the statue’s were all gone. The Twins continued the Bobblehead give-aways annually and they are still treasured give-aways to this day. As for the game itself, the Twins beat the Brewers 9-6 at the Dome. Cristian Guzman and Corey Koskie led the hitting attack with Guzman going 2 for 5 with 4 RBI and Koskie was 2 for 4 with a double, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Box Score
1998 – The Chicago Cubs are in town and they are sending rookie Kerry Wood to the Metrodome mound to take on the Twins and their starter Brad Radke. Wood isn’t on his game and the Twins knock him out of the game after he has allowed 6 runs (but only 2 earned) on 5 hits and 4 walks along with 4 strikeouts in 3.1 innings. The Twins keep adding on runs and Brad Radke has the Cubs eating out of his hand. So much so that in the sixth inning Radke retires the Cubs on just 3 pitches. When all is said and done Radke (8-4) has pitched a 4-hit shutout and has 8 strikeouts to boot in a 117 pitch effort. Matt Lawton and Marty Cordova each have 2 sacrifice flys and 3 RBI. Otis Nixon steals 3 bases. Box Score
1993 – No game today. Twins versus Rangers game in Texas is rained out and will be played as part of a September 10 double header.
1980 – No game today, scheduled day off.
1975 – The Star Tribune the next day said it was a comedy of errors and it would be hard to argue that. The Twins were playing the Indians in Cleveland and Minnesota manager Frank Quilici gave the wrong lineup to the Press Box and evidently to the players. Dan Ford, Danny Thompson and Glenn Borgmann were listed officially as batting seventh, eighth and ninth. However, Ford and Thompson batted in reverse order until the ninth inning. In the first, Thompson made the last out of the inning. Ford and Borgmann, who was also out-of-order now, both grounded out to start the second. In the fourth, Thompson singled but no runs scored in the inning. Thompson popped out to end the fifth. Ford tripled to start the sixth and eventually scored but Cleveland manager Frank Robinson did not object. In the seventh and eighth innings, all three batters made outs. In the ninth inning, the Twins finally batted in the proper order. Ford and Thompson both hit run-producing ground outs. The Twins batted out-of-order four times and in the correct order twice in the game. In the top of 11th inning Eric Soderholm singled, first baseman Tom Kelly sacrificed him to second and Soderholm went to third on a wild pitch. Danny Thompson then singled him home for what proved to be the winning run and the Twins were 11-10 victors in 11 innings. Vic Albury pitches five innings of scoreless relief for the win. Box Score
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1969 – The Twins lead over the idle A’s drops to 2.5 games as the Red Sox score five times in the first four innings and hold on for a 5-3 victory over Billy Martin’s troops at Met Stadium. The bullpen did what it could after Dick Woodson gave up all five runs and lasted just three innings but the Twins just could not come up with enough runs. Tony Oliva was 2 for 4 with a SB and Rich Reese was 2 for 5 with a triple and 2 RBI. Box Score
1967 – Cal Ermer, who played only one game in the majors, replaces Sam Mele as manager of the Twins but the Twins lose to the Orioles at the Met 11-2 anyway. Box Score
1966 – The Athletics jump on Twins starter Camilo Pascual for four runs in the first inning but the Twins score the next nine runs. Minnesota rocks the Kansas City A’s with the first (and only through 2017) five home run inning in AL history. Rich Rollins, Zoilo Versalles, Tony Oliva, Don Mincher, and Harmon Killebrew connect in the 7th inning to give the Twins a 9-4 victory at Met stadium. Harmon also hit a home run in the sixth inning. Turns out Oliva’s home run is the Twins home run number 1,000. Catfish Hunter is the losing pitcher and Twins reliever Pete Cimino wins his first big league game. Box Score
1961 – Twins vs Orioles in Baltimore game is rained out and rescheduled for August 2.