Twins Score 10 or More Runs in an Inning
Guess what? The Minnesota Twins have never lost a game in which they have scored 10 or more runs in an inning. The Twins have scored 10 or more runs in an inning 12 times over the Twins 9,479 games through 2020 so it is a relatively rare feat. The Twins have scored 10 or more runs in one inning at home seven times, four times at Met Stadium and three times at the Metrodome. Todate; the Twins have not had the same success at Target Field.
The road occurrences took place at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum twice, Tiger Stadium, Progressive Field and U.S. Cellular Field. The Minnesota Twins have accomplished this feat against the Cleveland Indians four times, Oakland A’s three times, Chicago White Sox twice, and against the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox and the Kansas City Royals once apiece.
In 2019 the Twins scored a franchise record 939 runs but never scored more than seven times in any inning and they never allowed more than seven runs in any inning.
9/4/2012 – a 10 run 5th inning in a 18-9 win over the White Sox
12. The Twins are playing the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field and are up 7-4 after four innings after scoring seven runs in the top in the top of the second inning. The top of the fifth inning starts innocently enough with a walk, a single and a ground out but then things head south for the four White Sox pitchers that are used in the inning. The Twins send a total of 14 batters to the plate and score 10 runs on 8 hits and three walks. The Twins overwhelm the Mighty Whitey’s 18-9. Twins starter Scott Diamond is one lucky son of a gun when he earns his 11th win of the season as the Twins batters score 10 or more runs in an inning for him twice in less than a month. Box Score
8/6/2012 – a 10 run 2nd inning in a 14-3 win over the Indians
11. The Twins are down 1-0 as Josh Willingham steps up to the plate at Progressive Field against Tribe hurler Zach McAllister and hits a home run to left, Justin Morneau follows with a home run to right, Ryan Doumit follows with a double before McAllister retires Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Brain Dozier for outs one and two but Jamey Carroll keeps the inning alive with a walk, Denard Span reaches on an error, Ben Revere singles, Joe Mauer doubles, Josh Willingham walks, Justin Morneau singles and knocks McAllister out of the game. Ryan Doumit greets Josh Tomlin with a three-run homer before Tomlin gets Nishioka out for the second time in the inning. Scott Diamond gets credit for his 10th win of the season as the final score of 14-3 for the Twins is posted on the Progressive scoreboard. Box Score
6/4/2002 – a 10 run 7th inning in a 23-2 win over the Indians
10. In the friendly confines of the Dome the Twins were up 13-2 in a laugher against the Cleveland Indians when they came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning with Indians Charles Nagy on the mound. Corey Koskie opened the inning with a home run, Bobby Kielty doubled, David Ortiz got a free pass, Dustan Mohr singled, A.J. Pierzynski singled and the Twins had seen the last of Nagy. Mark Wohlers was greeted with a Luis Rivas single, Jacques Jones hit a 3 run homer, Cristian Guzman walked, Doug Mientkiewicz singled before Wohlers struck out Koskie for the first out of the inning. Kielty hit his second double of the inning, Ortiz doubled and Wohlers was headed for the showers. Ricardo Rincon came in to pitch and retired Mohr and Pierzynski to end the carnage. That was the ball-game, 23-2 for the good guys in 3 hours and 14 minutes of action packed baseball. Twins starter Rick Reed got the win. Box Score
4/30/1996 – a 10 run 5th inning in a 16-7 win over the Royals
9. Down 7-4 at the Metrodome against the visiting Royals the Twins started the home half of the fifth inning with a single and two walks off starter Julio Valera. KC manager brought in Mike Magnante to crush the rally but he gave up a single, single, walk, walk, double, walk, triple, and a fielder’s choice before retiring the next three batters. The damage however; was done when 14 Twins batted and scored 10 times on five hits and four walks. The rally took the life out of the KC bats and the Twins won the game 16-7 again in 3 hours and 8 minutes. LaTroy Hawkins started for the Twins but he gave up 6 earned in 3.1 innings and did not stay around long enough to get the win. Box Score
5/20/1994 – a 11 run 5th inning in a 21-2 win over the Red Sox
8. The Twins were up 10-1 at the Metrodome against the Boston Red Sox when the fun started in the bottom of the fifth inning against Red Sox reliever Todd Frowirth. The inning started innocently enough when Frowirth retired Pat Mears for the first out, then came a single, a HBP and a three-run home run by Kirby Puckett and two more walks and Frowirth was headed for the showers. Greg Harris struck out Alex Cole but then gave up seven consecutive hits and he too was shower bound. Ken Ryan was brought in to put and end to the beating but he too gave up a single before retiring Alex Cole, the sixteenth batter of the inning for the final out of the inning. Cole made 2 out of the 3 outs in the inning looking at strike 3 go by each time. Surprisingly the game only lasted 3 hours and 8 minutes when the final score was posted with the Twins 21 and the Red Sox 2. Twins starter Carlos Pulido earned the win, one of only three games he would win in the big leagues. Box Score
6/28/1992 – a 10 run 4th inning in a 10-2 win over the A’s
7. What started as a pitchers duel at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on s Sunday afternoon with 38,976 fans in the stands turned out to be anything but. The Twins scored 10 runs in the top of the fourth inning off three Oakland pitchers, starter Kevin Campbell, Gene Nelson, and Vince Horsman. Among the nine hits in the inning were a three-run home run by Greg Gagne and a two-run shot by Kirby Puckett. The Twins bunched nine of their 14 hits in the fourth inning. Scott Erickson went 8 innings for the win and Gary Wayne finished up the 10-2 victory. Box Score
4/30/1985 – a 10 run 4th inning in a 11-2 win over the Tigers
6. The Twins were down 2-0 to the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium when Kent Hrbek started the top of the fourth with a HR off Milt Wilcox. When the smoke had cleared, the Twins had scored 10 times by sending 14 batters to the plate. The Twins had 9 hits (2 HR’s, 2 doubles, 5 singles), two walks and an error against three Tigers pitchers, Wilcox, Juan Berenguer, and Doug Bair. John Butcher pitched a complete game for the 11-2 win allowing just 5 hits. Twins shortstop Greg Gagne was not too impressed with the inning, he made the first and third out. Box Score
4/27/1980 – a 10 run 1st inning in a 20-11 win over the A’s
5. The Twins were facing the Oakland A’s in their first Sunday home game of the 1980 season and 19,859 fans showed up to see if the Twins could sweep the A’s after beating them in the first two games. A’s skipper Billy Martin started Brian Kingman and the Twins started Geoff Zahn. Zahn kept the A’s off the board in the top of the first and then the Twins came to bat and bat they did. When the bottom of the first inning finally ended, the Twins had sent 15 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs against Kingman, Dave Hamilton, and Mark Souza. Unfortunately Twins starter Zahn wasn’t much better and was pulled after 4.1 innings after giving up 14 hits, two walks and eight earned runs. The Twins held on for a 20-11 win and Doug Corbett finished the final 4.2 innings allowing 3 more runs on 8 hits. The A’s had 22 hit and the Twins had 20 hits and the games lasted just 3 hours and 17 minutes. Corbett was rewarded with the win to bring his record to 3-0 in just the Twins 20th game of the year. Box Score
8/5/1977 – an 11 run 4th inning in a 14-10 win over the Indians
4. The Twins are down 7-1 to the Cleveland Indians at Met Stadium when Twins outfielder Glen Adams starts the bottom of the home fourth inning with a bases empty home run off Al Fitzmorris. 6 hits, 3 walks, a hit batsman and an error contribute to an 11 run inning as the Indians bring in Sid Monge and Pat Dobson to help stop the bleeding. The Twins hold on and win the game 14-10. Geoff Zahn gets the win in relief and Tom Johnson gets the save. Box Score
9/5/1976 – a 10 run 5th inning in a 18-1 win over the White Sox
3. The Twins are up on the Chicago White Sox 4-1 going into the bottom of the 5th inning at Met Stadium when the floodgates open. The Twins score 10 runs on 9 hits, 2 walks and an error off three White Sox pitchers, Bart Johnson, Pete Vuckovich and Jesse Jefferson. The Twins score four more later and pound the White Sox 18-1 with Tom Johnson earning the win. Box Score
6/21/1969 – an 11 run 10th inning in a 14-4 win over the A’s in extra innings
2. The Twins and Oakland A’s are tied 3-3 after 9 innings at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Ted Uhlaender and Rod Carew lead off the top of the 10th inning with back-to-back singles and Harmon Killebrew follows with a home run and the Twins are off and running on their way to an 11 run inning on 8 hits, 4 walks, and 3 errors off three (Paul Linblad, Lew Krausse, and Marcel Lacheman) A’s pitchers. Joe Grzenda allows a run in the bottom of the 10th but he pockets the win when he and the Twins win 14-4. Box Score
7/18/1962 – an 11 run 1st inning in a 14-3 win over the Indians
1. The Twins come flying out of the gate with 11 runs in the first inning at Met Stadium against the Cleveland Indians and hold on for a 14-3 win. Both Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew hit grand slam home runs in the big inning. Barry Latman starts the game for the Indians and gets knocked out of the box with 6 earned runs allowed and he retires no one. Jim Perry relieves Latman and gives up 8 runs over the next 7 innings. Meanwhile Twins starter Dick Stigman enjoys his cushion and pitches a complete game striking out 11 for the win. This is the first time the Twins have scored double-digit runs in an inning. Box Score
How often have opponents had a double-digit inning against the Twins?
The answer to that question is 10 times, once in the 60’s, none in the 70’s, once in the 80’s, twice in the 90’s, and six times this century including twice this past 2017 season.
May 29, 2017 – 11 run 8th inning – Astros 16 – Twins 8 – Target Field – Box Score
May 7, 2017 – 10 run 9th inning – Red Sox 17 – Twins 6 – Target Field – Box Score
September 11, 2013 – 10 run 4th inning – A’s 18 – Twins 6 – Target Field – Box Score
August 4, 2008 – 10 run 7th inning – Mariners 11 – Twins 6 – Safeco Field – Box Score
July 25, 2007 – 11 run 6th inning – Blue Jays 13 – Twins 1 – Rogers Centre – Box Score
June 17, 2003 – 12 run 6th inning – Royals 14 – Twins 7 – Kauffman Stadium – Box Score
May 17, 1996 – 11 run 6th inning – Brewers 12 – Twins 1 – Metrodome – Box Score
August 21, 1995- 11 run 1st inning- Rangers 12 – Twins 5 -Ballpark in Arlington – Box Score
July 15, 1982 – 11 run 1st inning – Tigers 18 – Twins 2 – Metrodome – Box Score
June 13, 1967 – 10 run 6th inning – Tigers 15 – Twins 10 – Met Stadium – Box Score