After the Twins lost 12-9 to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Saturday I wondered how often the Twins had lost games when they scored 9 runs. After Saturday’s defeat their 2014 record was 32 wins and 34 losses and their historical won/lost record (since the team moved here in 1961) stood at 4,236 wins and 4,277 losses.
After doing a bit of research here is what I found.
13 runs – The Twins have scored 13 runs or more in a game 137 times and their record when they score 13 runs or more is 135-2. This is the most runs that the Twins have scored and still lost the game and it happened on two occasions. The first time it happened was on September 29, 1970 in a 14-13 loss in 12 innings to the Kansas City Royals at Met Stadium. The Twins led 9-5 after eight innings but KC scored 6 in the top of the 9th to take a 11 to 9 lead but the Twins tied it with 2 in the bottom of the ninth off Royals reliever Ted Abernathy to send the game into extra innings. No one scored in the 10th inning but both teams scored twice in the 11th inning and the game continued. The Royals scored once in the top of the 12th and the Twins came up empty in the bottom of the inning and lost the game 14-13. You need to check out the boxscore from the game as Twins manager Bill Rigney and Royals manager Bob Lemon had the wheels turning. Rigney used 27 players in the game and Lemon used 22 players. Who knocked in the winning run? 37 year-old relief pitcher Ted Abernathy.
The second time the Twins scored 13 runs and walked away losers was on July 20, 2009 when the Twins lost to the Oakland A’s 14-13 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Gardy and his Twins had a 12-5 lead after 3 innings and 13-7 after 6 innings but the A’s scored 7 in the bottom of the 7th inning and held on for a come from behind 14-13 victory. Current Twins fans will certainly recognize many of the players in this Boxscore.
12 runs – The Twins have scored 12 runs and lost 6 times in their 4,277 losses.
11 runs – The Twins have scored 11 runs and lost 9 times in their 4,277 losses.
10 runs – The Twins have scored 10 runs and lost 17 times in their 4,277 losses.
9 runs – The Twins have scored 9 runs and lost 32 times in their 4,277 losses. So here was my answer, it does not happen very often, in just 00.75% of the losses.
8 runs – The Twins have scored 8 runs and lost 63 times in their 4,277 losses.
7 runs – The Twins have scored 7 runs and lost 121 times in their 4,277 losses.
6 runs – The Twins have scored 6 runs and lost 200 times in their 4,277 losses.