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2023 – The Twins lost to the Astros at Minute Maid Park by a score of 5-1. Joe Ryan (7-2) was the starter and loser, allowing a season-high five runs on four hits in a season-low 4 innings pitched (88 pitches), with three walks and six strikeouts. He allowed home runs to Alex Bregman (solo) and Chas McCormick (2-run), both in the second inning. Ryan had allowed just four homers all season and none in his previous six starts. The offense recorded just six hits, including two from Christian Vázquez, who drove in the Twins’ only run with a fifth-inning single. The flailing Twins also struck out 12 times, marking their ninth-straight game with double-digit strikeout totals and 13th time in their last 14 games. The 28-27 Twins are in first place by two games. Attendance was 34,604. Box Score
2022 – The Twins lost to the Tigers at Comerica Park by a score of 7-5 in game one of the five-game series in Detroit. The loss marked the Twins’ first of the season when scoring five-plus runs (19-1). Dylan Bundy was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing four runs on nine hits in 6 innings pitched with one home run allowed (Derek Hill). Joe Smith (1-1) was dealt the loss, allowing two runs (1 earned) on three hits in 0.2 innings pitched. The Twins had 10 hits, their fifth-straight game with double-digit hit totals. Gio Urshela led the offense, going 3-for-4 with a double (4) a home run (5) and two RBI. Carlos Correa was not in the line-up and had a scheduled day off according to Rocco Baldelli but in reality he was not feeling well and during the game a COVID test for Correa came back positive. On the season, the Twins rank first in the AL in on-base percentage (.329), second in batting average (.251), third in OPS (.732) and fourth in slugging percentage (.403). Box Score
In off the field news the Twins purchase outfielder John Andreoli from the Philadelphia Phillies.
2021 – The visiting Royals got to Twins starter Matt Shoemaker for a run in the first inning but then Shoemaker retired the next 11 batters in a row before things went south in a hurry. Shoemaker allowed four singles, a walk and a stolen base while retiring just one batter in the fifth inning and found himself on the way to an early shower and the Royals out in front 3-2. Caleb Thielbar allowed two more runs to score before getting out of the inning and the score was 5-2 for the Royals. The Twins ended up losing 6-3 and had only five hits, three of the hits coming off the bat of Alex Kirilloff. Ben Rortvedt hit his first major league home run, extending the club’s homer streak at Target Field to 15-straight games. Shoemaker took the loss dropping his record to 2-6. The Twins completed their six-game homestand with a record of 4-2, going 3-0 against Baltimore and 1-2 against Kansas City and now head off on a seven-game roadtrip to Baltimore and Kansas City. Box Score
2020 – The Twins are in the Windy City to take on the Chicago White Sox and that would be fun except that all the games this season had not been postponed/canceled due to COVID-19. We have now missed 59 games.
After a horrific night of rioting, looting and starting fires the Governor announced today that the entire Minnesota National Guard has been called out to help police control the rioting in the Twins Cities area. This is the first time in history this has happened. Later in the afternoon it was announced that all main highways and freeways leading into Minneapolis and St. Paul and between the two cities will be closed from 8pm to 6am tomorrow. The curfew that is in effect will be enforced and violators will be arrested. President Trump chimed in that he has military on standby that could be brought in if necessary. There are riots all over the country but the Twins Cities is at the epicenter of the protesting due to the George Floyd killing/murder here. It is a troubling time here in Minnesota.
2019 – The Twins (37-18) get taken to the woodshed by the Rays (35-19) and beat up 14-3 at Tropicana Field. Six runs in the third and five more in the fourth don’t help the situation/ Martin Perez (7-2) who has been stellar this year lasts just 2.2 innings and gives up 6 run on 6 hits and get the L for his efforts. The Twins were out hit 16 to 7 and the best thing thing about this game is that it is in the rear view mirror. S#&% happens now and then. Box Score
2018 – The Twins fell to an early nine-run deficit after the second inning and rallied for a run in the third and fourth innings, two runs in the fifth and four runs in the sixth to pull within one at 8-9 before allowing runs in the seventh and eighth to lose 11-8 at Kauffman Stadium. Fernando Romero was the Twins starter and loser allowing eight runs on nine hits in 1.2 innings, the eight runs allowed were more than all his previous five career starts combined (7 runs). Everyone in the Royals line-up had at least one hit. Brian Dozier and Ehire Adrianza homered for Minnesota but it was not enough to make a historic come-back. Aaron Slegers who was just called up from Rochester pitched 5.1 inning of six-hit relief and allowed just two runs. Box Score
2010 – The Twins played errorless ball, as usual, in their 6-3 win over the Rangers. Jason Kubel goes 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBI while Scott Baker pitched 6 innings for the win. Minnesota’s total of 12 errors this year is the lowest for any team in major-league history through its first 50 games of a season, shattering the previous record of 17 by the 2006 Red Sox and 2009 Phillies. The Twins finish the season with 78 errors. Box Score
2005 – No game today, scheduled day off.
2004 – Another entry for the strange and unusual. The Twins pulled off an unusual 3-2-9 put out in the fifth inning of their 8-3 win over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals had the bases loaded in the home half of the fifth when Mike Sweeney hit a fly to short right field and first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, right fielder Jacques Jones and second baseman Michael Cuddyer converged on. Mientkiewicz nearly caught it but Mike Cuddyer bumped Dougie and he dropped the ball. First base umpire Jeff Kellogg signaled infield fly rule making Sweeny an automatic out. Desi Relaford streaked for home. Mientkiewicz saw Relaford and threw the ball towards home plate but he nailed Sweeney in the back, who had run to first and turned around, in the back. Jacques Jones raced to first base as catcher Henry Blanco recovered the ball in front on the Royals dugout. Angel Berroa who was on second base saw Carlos Beltran who was on first running towards him. Beltran was yelling at Berroa to run and Berroa was yelling at Beltran to go back. Beltran decided to go back to first but Jones beat him to first base and took the throw from Blanco and tagged Beltran out. There you have it, a 3-2-9 put out. After the game Mientkiewicz said “I tried to get as skinny as I could so no one would know that I threw it”. Mike Sweeney’s reaction? “I though I had been shot, ” the Royals star said. Gardy’s reaction? “I thought I had just seen everything.” Dan Agonistes blog.
The Twins beat the Royals 8-3 with both teams getting 12 hits. Kyle Lohse was the winning pitcher for Minnesota and Jimmy Gobble (always loved that name) was the loser. Lew Ford and Alex Prieto hits home runs. Box Score
1992 – Detroit’s Rob Deer popped out to shortstop Greg Gagne in consecutive at-bats with both balls ricocheting off the Metrodome ceiling. Deer, Travis Fryman and Phil Clark all hit home runs for the Tigers but it wasn’t enough as the Twins scored five in the eighth inning on 4 hits, 2 errors and 2 walks for a 7-5 victory. Kirby Puckett was 3 for 4 with a home run, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Box Score
1990 – The Twins up their record to 27-19 when they whip the Orioles by a score of 12-3 at the Dome. Catcher Brian Harper and first baseman Gene Larkin each get 3 hits. Harper has two doubles, scores twice and knocks in three more while Larkin gets just one double but scores three and knocks in one. Roy Smith pitches 7.2 innings for the win. Box Score
The Twins acquire pitcher Ed Gustafson from the San Francisco Giants and in turn pitcher Francisco Oliveras becomes the property of the Giants. Gustafson got to AA Orlando but was out of baseball after the 1992 season.
1986 – Each team had 15 hits but Minnesota turned their 15 hits into 13 runs while the visiting Red Sox could only come up with five in a Twins 13-5 win. Maybe it was the Twins nine extra-base hits? DH Roy Smalley, hit a home run from each side of the plate against the Red Sox at the Metrodome and becomes the first Twins batter to ever do so. Tom Brunansky also chipped in a double and a home run. The win went to reliever Keith Atherton who relieved Frank Viola in the fourth inning and completed the game by allowing no runs on 5 hits in 5.1 innings of relief. Box Score
1980 – The Minnesota Twins lose to the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 in extra-innings in front of a small crowd of 4,889 at Met Stadium. The game was tied 2-2 after nine innings but Twins starter Roger Erickson was gone after six innings and relieved by Doug Corbett. Mike Flanagan (5-3) went the first nine innings for the O’s and was credited with the win when Baltimore scored in the top of the tenth when Terry Crowley greeted Twins reliever Corbett as he started his fourth inning of work with a long home run to center. Corbett (3-2) absorbed the loss. Box Score
1974 – No game today, scheduled day off. But the Twins hosted the Atlanta Braves at Met Stadium in an ISEG. It was the fourth time Minnesota has hosted one of these types of games. The Twins clobbered the Braves in this one 10-2. Sadly the STRIB no longer seems to provide box scores for these exhibition games.
1970 – The Twins whip the Yankees 10-6 at the Met. The Twins jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead but the Yankees pecked away until they finally took a 6-5 lead in the top of the seventh inning. In the home half of the seventh the Twins bounced back quickly as Cesar Tovar led off with a home run to tie the ball game at 6-6 and then the Twins went on to score four more times to take back control and hold on to a 10-6 victory. The Twins hitting star was first baseman Rich Reese who went 4 for 5 with a home run, a triple and two singles, scored three times and knocked in three more. Ron Perranoski blew the save but got the win with three innings of relief. Box Score
Off the field All-Star voting is returned to the fans, as computerized punch-card ballots appear in stores and ballparks coast to coast. Since 1958 the All-Star squads had been selected by managers, coaches, and players.
1969 – Dave Mona wrote in the Star Tribune that there were so many Twins goats in this game that they should move out of their hotel and go out to a pasture as the Twins lost to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park 3-2. The Twins were down 2-0 in the top of the sixth when Billy Martin decided to pinch-hit for starter Dave Boswell who had struck out eight, allowed just four hits and 2 runs in five innings. The Red Sox scored their third run in the bottom of the sixth before the Twins finally scored two runs in the seventh on a two-run homer by Harmon Killebrew. When the game ended the Twins had left a season high 14 runners on base, committed three errors and their losing streak reached three games but the Twins retained their one game lead in the AL West. Rod Carew had 3 of the teams 8 hits including a double. Box Score
1961 (Memorial Day) – In the first game of two, Twins starter Camilo Pascual allowed just three hits and had a 3-0 lead after six innings but things unraveled in the seventh when he gave up three singles and a walk allowing the Indians to narrow the score to 3-2. The Twins, the worst fielding team in the league committed two errors in the eighth inning allowing the Indians to knot the game at 3-3. In the bottom of the ninth Pascual allowed a lead-off single to John Romano and when outfielder Lenny Green allowed the ball to get past him for the teams third error of the game, Romano took second. An intentional walk followed putting runners at first and second bringing up Bubba Phillips who popped up for the first out of the inning. Don Dillard pinch-hit for pitcher Frank Funk and on a 1-1 pitch delivered a single over second base scoring Romano with the winning run and the Indians had a walk-off win over the visiting Twins at Cleveland Stadium. Pascual (4-5) pitched the entire game allowing 8 hits, 3 walks and 4 runs of which 3 were earned. The Twins had just 7 hits with Earl Battey getting two of them. Lenny Green went 0 for 4 and his 24 game hitting streak came to and end. Green hit .362 going 34 for 94 between May 1 and May 28. Box Score game one
In game two of the DH the Twins quickly found themselves down 3-0 in the first inning when Twins starter Pedro Ramos gave up three hits. Things got worse in fourth when a Billy Gardner error put Willie Kirkland on first to lead off the inning which led to three unearned runs and quick trip to he showers for Ramos after just 3.2 innings. The Twins fought back with a five run sixth inning off Indians starter Mudcat Grant that was capped off by Bob Allison’s ninth home run of the season and the Twins closed the gap to 6-5. The Indians however; scored a run in the bottom of the frame and led 7-5 going into the ninth. The Twins put the tying runs on base in the ninth but Reno Bertoia popped up to the third baseman for the final out of the game and the Twins ended up the day with two losses and a their losing streak reached five games. The Twins had eight hits with Zoilo Versalles and Hal Naragon getting two each. Box Score
