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
Kyle Gibson did not allow a hit, he did walk five in six innings of work in the Twins’ 6-2 win in Baltimore yesterday. Gibson became the first player in Twins/Senators history to throw more than two innings and not allow a hit in his first start of a season.
By the way, the Twins have played seven games on April 1 since 1961 and their record on April Fool’s Day is 3 wins and 4 losses, none of the games were against the Orioles.
Déjà vu all over again in Baltimore
Adam Jones hit a walk off home run in the 11th inning off Twins reliever Fernando Rodney on yesterday, a year after his teammate Mark Trumbo hit an 11th-inning walk off homer in the Orioles season opener. The Orioles are the first team in major-league history to hit a first-game walk off home run in consecutive seasons, let alone one in extra innings.
The Twins scored three runs in the top of the first inning and the Yankees answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning in the American League Wild Card game. Only one other postseason game in major-league history saw each team score at least three runs in the first inning. In Game 4 of the 1993 World Series, the Blue Jays scored three times in the top of the first only to relinquish the lead in the bottom half of the inning when the Phillies scored four times in what is still the highest scoring World Series game in major-league history, a 15-14 Toronto win at Veterans Stadium.
Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosarioeach homered in their first career playoff plate appearance in the first inning of the American League Wild Card game on Tuesday night. It’s only the third time in major-league history that multiple players from the same team each homered in their first postseason at bat in the same game. That previously happened on October 2, 1984, when the Cubs’ Bob Dernier (first inning) and Rick Sutcliffe (third inning) each did it; and on October 1, 1996 by the Orioles’ Brady Anderson (first inning) and B.J. Surhoff (second inning).
The Yankees beat the Twins in the American League Wild Card game on Tuesday. New York has now won each of the last 10 postseason games it has played against Minnesota, winning the last three games of the 2004 ALDS and registering three-game sweeps in the 2009 ALDS and 2010 ALDS prior to Tuesday’s win. That ties the second-longest postseason winning streak for one team against another in major-league history. The Red Sox won 11 straight postseason games against the Angels (1986-2008), the Yankees won 10 in a row against the Rangers (1996-2010) and the Athletics won 10 straight against the Red Sox (1988-2003).
David Robertson did not allow a run while getting 10 outs in relief in the Yankees’ win over the Twins in the American League Wild Card game. Robertson is the seventh pitcher in major-league history to record at least 10 outs without allowing a run while pitching in relief in a victory in a winner-take-all postseason game. Five of the other six pitchers to do it were starting pitchers during the regular season: Walter Johnson (1924 World Series), Vida Blue (1972 ALCS), Mike Torrez (1977 ALCS), Pedro Martinez (1999 Divisional Playoffs) and Madison Bumgarner (2014 World Series). The only other pitcher who was primarily a reliever to do that was the Yankees’ Joe Page in Game 7 of the 1947 World Series against the Dodgers. Page, who pitched in relief in 54 of his 56 regular-season appearances that season, pitched the final five innings and didn’t relinquish a run allowing New York to capture the World Series with a 5-2 victory. Robertson threw 52 pitches in his outing. Those are the most pitches Robertson has ever thrown in a game in his major-league career. His previous high was 45 on July 1, 2008.
Aaron Judge hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning giving the Yankees a 7-4 lead in a game they would go on to win 8-4 over the Twins in the American League Wild Card game on Tuesday. Judge is the third rookie in Yankees history to homer in his first career postseason game, joining Elston Howard (1955) and Shane Spencer (1998).
The only American League teams that finished the regular season with winning percentages of .500 or higher are the five A.L. teams that qualified for the playoffs, all of which had winning records (the Indians, Astros, Red Sox, Yankees and Twins). It is the first time that either the American or National League had as few as five teams finish a season with as many or more wins than losses since the major leagues expanded to 30 teams in 1998.
Brad Ausmus will not be returning as the Tigers’ manager in 2018, nor will Pete Mackanin for the Phillies, and although their fates were sealed earlier last week, they both finished the season for their respective teams. Terry Collins announced his resignation as the Mets’ manager after Sunday’s season finale. Every major-league manager who began the 2017 season spent the entire season in that position. There have been only two other seasons over the last 75 years in which the manager of every major-league team went “wire-to-wire” in that position: 2000 and 2006.
The Diamondbacks defeated the Royals in the final interleague game of the year. The American League took the season series from the National League, 160–140. This was the 14th consecutive year in which the A.L. had the upper hand in interleague play.
Brewers lose after leading, 6-0, ceding last playoff spot to Rockies
The heartbreak of two extra-inning losses to the Cubs last weekend turned out to be an appetizer of the agony that Brewers fans felt on Saturday. Milwaukee’s 6-0 lead evaporated and its 7-6 loss at St. Louis eliminated Craig Counsell’s squad from playoff contention, allowing the Rockies to claim the final invitation to MLB’s postseason party. Milwaukee became the first major-league team to hold a lead of six-or-more runs but then to lose its 161st or 162nd decision of the season, with that loss resulting in its elimination from playoff contention.
In its final game of the 2006 season, the Tigers blew a 6-0 lead and lost to Kansas City, 10-8, with that result costing them the American League Central title, which went to the Twins. Nevertheless, Detroit reached the playoffs as a wild card and went on to reach the World Series. And back in 1984, on the final Friday of the season, it was the Twins who frittered away a 10-0 lead and lost, 11-10, at Cleveland. Coupled with a victory by the Royals later that night, Kansas City won the A.L. West title and the Twins were eliminated. But Minnesota’s loss came in its 160th decision of the season, as opposed to the 161st-game loss by the Brewers on Saturday in St. Louis.
The 6,000-home run mark was reached for the first time in any major-league season when Roberto Perez homered off Twins pitcher Alan Busenitz for the Indians in the seventh inning of their 5–2 win against the Twins yesterday afternoon. Major League Baseball’s first season with 1,000 or more home runs was 1922. The subsequent milestones were reached first in 1950 (2,000 home runs), 1962 (3,000), 1987 (4,000) and 1998 (5,000).
The Twins completed a four game sweep in Detroit yesterday with a 10–4 win. They won the first three games of the series 12–1, 7–3, and 10–4, outscoring the Tigers 39–12 in the series. On only one other occasion since moving to Minnesota in 1961, the Twins swept a 4-game series with that high a scoring margin: they outscored the Red Sox 33–6 in a four game sweep at Fenway Park, July 18–21, 1991. Kirby Puckett and Chili Davis combined for 13 RBIs between them in the series. The Twins would go on to defeat the Braves 4–3 in the World Series that season.
Zack Granite bookended the scoring for the Twins in their eight-run eighth-inning rally against the Tigers yesterday. The Twins rookie pinch-ran for Joe Mauer and scored the game-tying run for Minnesota, then he blasted his first major-league homer later in the inning to bring home three runs and put the game out of reach. Only one other player in the last 15 seasons homered in an inning after entering the game earlier in that inning as a pinch-runner. On Sept. 5, 2008, Rajai Davis homered with the bases loaded in the eighth inning for the A’s at Baltimore after pinch running earlier in the frame.
Granite became the first Twin in team history (since 1961) to enter the game as a pinch-runner and homer in that same inning. He is the first player in the majors to do so since April 18, 2001 when Boston’s Darren Lewis did so at Tampa Bay.
Kyle Gibson allowed three runs over seven innings to earn the win for the Twins over the Tigers yesterday. Entering Friday, Gibson had struggled mightily in four starts versus Detroit this season. Gibson sported an 8.20 ERA (17 earned runs in 18? innings) with a .289 opponent batting average (22 hits in 76 at-bats).
Gibson made his 100th career start on April 12 at Detroit, all with Minnesota. Gibson is the first pitcher to make 100 starts for the Twins since Francisco Liriano from 2005-11 and is the 25th pitcher in Twins history to make 100-plus starts for the club.
Joe Mauer, who went 3 for 4 in the Twins’ 12–1 rout of the Tigers in Detroit yesterday, has hit .401 with a major-league-high total of 55 hits since August 17, raising his season batting average to .311 from .276. Mauer has recorded at least one hit in 31 of the 35 games he’s played over this stretch.