Category: According to Elias

According to ELIAS

Miguel Sano
Miguel Sano
Jacque Jones
Jacque Jones

Miguel Sano hit a walkoff RBI single as the Twins downed the Indians, 6-5. It was the second straight game in which Minnesota won in walkoff fashion, with Oswaldo Arcia ending Monday’s game with a solo homer. It’s been over 10 years since the Twins last won consecutive games, with each coming of the walkoff variety. On July 19, 2005, Jacque Jones hit a walkoff single to defeat the Orioles and a day later, Jones did it again, ending the game with a home run.

Did you know: That in their history since 1961, the Twins have been walkoff winners 403 times and walkoff losers 407 times?

According to ELIAS

Dusty Baker‘s first win like this one

The Nationals defeated the Twins in 16 innings on yesterday after trailing in the ninth and 15th innings. Dusty Baker has won 1,685 games as a major-league manager, but this was his first in which his team trailed in the ninth inning and again in extra innings.

The last time that a major-league team tied a game with a bottom-of-the-ninth home run and won it in the 15th-inning or later with another homer came on May 25, 2008 when the Padres defeated the Reds, 12-9, in 18 innings. Scott Hairston hit a game-tying ninth-inning home run and Adrian Gonzalez had a walk-off home run off of Edinson Volquez.

According to ELIAS

Twins win first road game in 2016

Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano each hit solo home runs as the Twins picked up their first road victory of the season, an 8-1 triumph over the Brewers. Minnesota started the season 0-7 away from home; that was their longest road losing streak to start a season, surpassing the previous mark of six in 1904, when the team was known as the Washington Senators. Over the last five years (since 2012), one other team started a season 0-7 on the road, the 2014 Marlins (lost first seven).

The Twins have hit two home runs in each of their last four games, their longest streak of games with multiple homers since September 2013 (also a four-game streak).

According to ELIAS

Twins and Braves rebound after 0-9 starts

The Braves and Twins both improved their records to 3-9 Sunday by completing three-game sweeps of the Marlins and Angels, respectively. Atlanta and Minnesota are the first teams in major-league history to win three straight games immediately after starting a season with nine or more consecutive losses.

 

Noonie is earning respect in Minneapolis

Eduardo Nunez 2016Eduardo Nunez continues to make it look easy, going 2-for-4 in the Twins’ 7-4 win over the Brewers. That dropped-yes dropped-Nunez’ batting average to .545 this season, with 12 hits in 22 at-bats. Over the last 25 years, only one other Twins player maintained a batting average above .500 at least 20 ABs into a season. Josmil Pinto was 13-for-25 to start his brief MLB career in 2013, Kirby Puckett did it twice in the 1980’s (a 14-for-27 start in 1984, and 13-for-25 in 1987).

 

According to ELIAS

Nunez is 7 for 7 in his two starts this season

Eduardo Nunez 2016Eduardo Nunez contributed three hits to the Twins’ first win of the season yesterday and he is 7-for-7 over his two starts this season. Nunez is the first Twins player since David Ortiz in July 2000 to go 7-for-7 (or better) over a span of two starts.

According to ELIAS

The Braves and Twins both lost Thursday, dropping their records to 0-9. It’s only the third time in major-league history that two teams started 0-9 or worse in the same season. It also happened in 1884 when Detroit of the National League and Altoona of the Union Association did it; and in 1988 when Baltimore and Atlanta did it.

The Twins scored only one run in their loss to the White Sox yesterday and have scored only 14 runs in nine games this season. That matches the fewest runs scored over the first nine games of a season in Twins franchise history. The 1949 Washington Senators also scored only nine runs over the first nine games of the season. That team finished with a 50-104 record. The last major-league team to have that offensive futility over its first nine games of a season was the 2004 Expos (10 runs), the last American League team was the 2003 Tigers (14).

The Twins are the second team in major-league history to lose each of their first nine games, and score three or fewer runs in each. The other was the 1988 Orioles, who lost a record 21-straight games to start the season. Baltimore failed to score as many as four runs in any of the first 12 games that season.

According to ELIAS

helpThe Twins fell to 0-8 when they dropped a 3-0 decision to the White Sox yesterday in which he managed only four hits while striking out nine times. In fact, the Twins are the first major-league team to have more strikeouts than hits in each of their first eight games of a season since the pitching distance was established at 60 feet, 6 inches in 1893. Source ELIAS

But that is not all, the Twins losing streak stands at 8 games in 2016 but when you add-on three straight losses to the Kansas City Royals at the end of 2015 and you have a 11 game losing streak on your hands, tied for the third longest losing streak in Twins history. The longest losing streak of course belongs to the 1982 Twins that lost 14 in a row and finished the season with a 60-102 mark.

Minnesota Twins longest losing streaks

Rk Strk Start End Games W L AB R H HR RBI SO BA
1 1982-05-19 1982-06-02 14 0 14 458 33 99 8 32 89 .216
2 1961-05-26 1961-06-07 13 0 13 426 33 88 5 31 56 .207
3 2015-10-02 2016-04-13 11 0 11 359 16 74 4 16 118 .206
4 2011-09-09 2011-09-21 11 0 11 379 37 93 4 33 76 .245
5 2013-05-14 2013-05-24 10 0 10 347 28 76 7 27 83 .219
6 1999-09-25 2000-04-03 10 0 9 328 27 77 5 27 65 .235
7 1998-09-09 1998-09-19 10 0 10 366 49 92 10 48 72 .251
8 1997-08-09 1997-08-19 10 0 10 350 26 88 3 25 69 .251
9 1985-05-21 1985-06-01 10 0 10 341 31 77 9 29 43 .226
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 4/14/2016.

My patience with this team is starting to wear thin but there are too many players sleep-walking through the beginning of this season to change out a player or two to send a message. Where is that tirade of a veteran player to wake this team up? Yes, I am looking at you Joe Mauer, Trevor Plouffe and Brian Dozier.

Can horrendous starts two years in a row just be a coincidence? I have never believed in coincidences. It is time for Dave St. Peter, Terry Ryan, and Paul Molitor to show that they can turn a ball club around that is sinking faster than Justin Spieth did at the Masters this past Sunday.

Six games out with just eight games played? This can’t be real, what a nightmare!

According to ELIAS

MLB – Ventura avenges loss to Twins by eliminating them

Yesterday, Yordano Ventura earned his ninth win in his last 10 decisions as the Royals snapped a 1-1 tie with four runs in the seventh inning and went on to defeat the Twins, 5-1, eliminating the Twins from postseason eligibility. Ventura avenged a loss to the Twins on September 7, which had been the only blemish in his last 10 decisions. Jake Arrieta has won his last 11 decisions, but other than him, Ventura stands among eight other active pitchers who have won nine of their last ten.

Trevor Plouffe
Trevor Plouffe

The loss had a bitter tinge for the Twins, who committed two errors on one play during Kansas City’s winning rally. The usually reliable Trevor Plouffe committed one of those miscues, just his 11th error in 140 games at third base this season. Until that play, he was on the verge of breaking the franchise record for the fewest errors in one season by a third baseman playing 140-or-more games; now, at best he will tie Gary Gaetti‘s record of 11 errors in 150 games in 1987.

According to ELIAS

Twins top Indians with two runs in the ninth

The Minnesota Twins scored two runs in the ninth inning to snap a 2-2 tie and register a 4-2 win over the Indians in Cleveland last night. Minnesota has now scored 40 runs in the ninth inning on the road this season, which is the second highest total for any American League team behind the Houston Astros (43).

According to ELIAS

Six scoreless innings for Gibson

Kyle Gibson 2015Kyle Gibson pitched six shutouts innings in game one of a scheduled double-header as the Twins beat the Indians. Gibson is 3-5 in his 14 starts since the All-Star break. He has not allowed a run in 19.1 innings pitched in his three wins, compared to 48 runs allowed (47 earned) in 61.2 innings pitched in his 11 other starts (6.86 ERA).