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
If only Sano had arrived earlier
Miguel Sano drove in the first run of the Twins’ win in Cleveland last night, giving him 51 RBIs this season. Sano, who made his major-league debut on July 2, is the second rookie in major-league history to drive in more than 50 runs in a season without having any before July. The other player to do that was Josh Phelps, with 58 RBI for Toronto in 2002.
Sports Illustrated did a nice piece on Miguel Sano earlier this month that you can view here.
Santana is as good as ever
Eduardo Escobar tripled and homered in the Twins’ 6-2 win at Detroit on Saturday. The only other Minnesota shortstop in the last 10 years to hit a triple and a home run in the same game was Escobar himself, last August 22, also against the Tigers.
Ervin evoking memories of Johan
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Ervin Santana came through again for the Twins on Tuesday night, holding the Indians to one run over seven innings and earning well-deserved credit for Minnesota’s 3-1 victory. Santana is now 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA over his last five starts, with 39 strikeouts in 36 innings. Source: ELIAS
We will never know what the Twins record might have been had Santana pitched for the Twins all year long. The old what if ………..
Duffey wins his fourth straight decision
Tyler Duffey pitched seven scoreless innings and was the pitcher of decision in the Twins’ 8-1 victory over the Angels. Duffey absorbed a loss to the Blue Jays in his major-league debut on August 5, when he allowed two homers and six runs in a two-inning start. But he is 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA in seven starts since then, while allowing only one home run in 43.2 innings. Source: ELIAS
Escobar has found his power stroke
Eduardo Escobar homered in the Twins’ win over the White Sox last night, giving him seven homers in his last 22 games, dating back to August 20. Escobar had hit only 13 homers in 346 games in the major-leagues before his current hot stretch began.
Hunter’s been on target lately
Torii Hunter drove in his 70th run of the season in the first inning of the Twins win over the Tigers yesterday. Hunter and Adrian Gonzalez are the only major-league players to drive in at least 70 runs in each season since 2006, although Miguel Cabrera and Robinson Cano could soon join that group.
David Ortiz joins 500 home run club
David Ortiz hit two home runs – the 499th and 500th of his major-league career – to lead the Red Sox to victory over the Rays at Tropicana Field yesterday. Ortiz became the 27th player in major-league history to hit 500 homers, and he’s the second of that group to hit his 499th and 500th home run in a single game. Albert Pujols did that on April 22, 2014 at Nationals Park, and just as Ortiz did on Saturday, Pujols hit his 499th in the top of the first inning and his 500th in the top of the fifth.
Ortiz is the fourth player to hit career home run #500 while wearing a Red Sox uniform, and like the previous three, Ortiz hit his milestone homer in a road game. The previous players to do so for Boston are Jimmie Foxx (at Philadelphia in 1940), Ted Williams (at Cleveland in 1960), and Manny Ramirez (at Baltimore in 2008).
Ortiz was originally signed by the Seattle Mariners as a free agent on November 28, 1992 and was traded to the Minnesota Twins as the PTBNL on September 13, 1996 to complete an earlier trade made on August 29, 1996 when the Twins sent Dave Hollins to Seattle. At the time David Ortiz was known as David Arias.Ortiz who became well-known as “Big Papi” spent six years in Minnesota playing in 455 games while hitting for a .266 average.
Ortiz had 1,693 plate appearances while in a Twins uniform and hit his first 58 of his 500 home runs as a Minnesota Twin. The Twins released the big first baseman on December 16, 2002 and Ortiz was signed by the Boston Red Sox as a free agent on January 22, 2003 and the rest is history. Why did the Twins release him you ask? The Twins said he couldn’t play first base, was too much of a pull hitter and couldn’t hit to right field…….
Congratulations to David Ortiz from Twins Trivia!
Sano launches pinch-hit game-winning homer in 12th inning
Miguel Sano is only the second rookie in the last 27 seasons (1989-2015) to hit a pinch-hit game-winning home run in the 12th inning or later. Prior to Sano, the most recent rookies to do that were Lyle Overbay (2003 Diamondbacks, 12th inning) and Mark Parent (1988 Padres, 16th inning), both against the Dodgers.
Sano’s manager, Hall-of-Famer Paul Molitor, had two-career game-winning RBI in the 12th inning–one on a single at Seattle in 1979, and one on a double off another Cooperstown inductee, Goose Gossage, in 1993–but he never had one later in a game than that.
Twins rookie is triple threat
Eddie Rosario‘s two-run triple in the ninth inning broke a 1-1 tie yesterday and the Twins went on to defeat the Astros, 3-2. Rosario, who made his big-league debut in May, has 11 triples in 99 games. Prior to Rosario, the most recent players to hit at least 11 triples through their first 100 major-league games were Juan Uribe (15, from 2001 to 2002) and Juan Samuel (12, from 1983 to 1984). Source: ELIAS
The last Twin with 11 triples was Cristian Guzman, who had 14 in 2003.
Quite a start for Sano
Miguel Sano had three hits, including a game-tying homer in the seventh inning, to help the Twins defeat the White Sox, 8-6. Sano has recorded 52 hits in the first 50 games of his major-league career, including 14 homers and 13 doubles. The only other active players who recorded at least 50 hits in their first 50 major-league games with at least half of those hits going for extra bases are Jose Abreu (50 hits, 31 XBH) and Chris Davis (50 hits, 25 XBH). Sano is the first player in Twins/Senators history with such a start to his major-league career. Source: ELIAS
Sano is “quickest” to a dozen homers for the Twins
Miguel Sano‘s 12th career home run gave the Twins a 7-0 lead against Houston yesterday and they held on for a 7-5 victory. Sano, who has played only 49 games in the majors, is the first player ever to hit as many as a dozen homers in fewer than 50 games for the Senators/Twins. Sano broke the franchise record which was set by Chili Davis in 1991, when he hit 12 homers over his first 53 games for the Twins after they signed him as a free agent that January. Source:ELIAS