According to ELIAS

Gibson goes the distance in a Twins win

Gibson, Kyle 2016Minnesota’s Kyle Gibson notched the first complete-game win of his major-league career with a 10-3 victory last night over the Braves in Atlanta. It was the first complete-game road win by a Twins pitcher since May 22, 2012, when P.J. Walters went the distance in a victory over the White Sox in Chicago. Gibson was the first Minnesota pitcher to post a complete-game road win over a National League opponent since June 2010, when Carl Pavano did so twice in a seven-day span, beating the Phillies and the Mets.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week – Fernando Romero

Fernando Romero 2016Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) right-handed pitcher Fernando Romero is the Twins minor league player of the week. Romero made one start for the Miracle, on Friday versus Charlotte, pitching 7.0 shutout innings with six hits allowed, no walks and 11 strikeouts. The 21-year-old has made nine starts for the Miracle this season, going 3-2, 2.39 ERA (49.0 IP, 13 ER) with eight walks and 48 strikeouts.

He was signed by the Twins out of the Dominican Republic on November 4, 2011 as a 16 year-old for a reported $260,000. Romero has TJ surgery in June 2014 and missed the entire 2015 season. Romero has a career minor league record of 10-7, 2.56 ERA (165.0 IP, 47 ER) with 45 walks and 157 strikeouts.

Twins Minor League Report 08142016

Looking back at the Minnesota Twins low-hit games

Not that we have seen any low hit games pitched by Twins pitchers recently but I thought it would still be fun to take a look back over Minnesota Twins history and see what we can find.

The Minnesota Twins have been no-hit on five occasions since the team started play in Minnesota in 1961. Previous to moving to Minnesota the team was known as the Washington Senators and from 1913 through 1960 they were no-hit four times. That is a lot of games (over 10,000) played to be no-hit just nine times.

One-hitters or near no-hitters happen on a more frequent basis, for example the Senators have been one-hit 22 times from 1913-1960 and the Twins have been one-hit a total of 31 times between 1961-2015.

Let’s take a look at some of the games where the Twins had only a single hit.

Continue reading Looking back at the Minnesota Twins low-hit games

Twins minor league player of the week – Luis Arraez

Arraez, LuisCedar Rapids Kernels (Low A) second baseman Luis Arraez is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. The left-handed hitting Arraez hit .455 (10-for-22) with one double, four RBI, one walk and six runs scored in six games for the Kernels, including a 5-for-5 effort on Tuesday at Burlington. The 19-year-old is hitting .335 (122-for-364) with 24 doubles, three triples, three home runs, 51 RBI, 57 runs scored and 26 walks in 88 games for the Kernels this season. Arraez who stands just 5’10” was signed by the Twins as an undrafted free agent on November 5, 2013. In just his third season in the Twins system, Arraez has a career hitting mark of .333 and at just 19 years of age in Low-A, he could rise quickly in the Twins prospect rankings.

‘Consistent’ Arraez gets high-five for Kernels

Twins Minor League Report 08082016

According to ELIAS

Kintzler picks up 10th save of season

Brandon Kintzler 2016Brandon Kintzler, who turned 32 years old on August 1, picked up his 10th save of the seasonand in his major-league careerin the Twins’ win over the Astros on Monday. Four other active pitchers were 32 or older at the time of their first 10-save season: Koji Uehara, Santiago Casilla, Jason Grilli and Joaquin Benoit.

According to ELIAS

Twins have two young sluggers

Miguel Sano
Sano
Kepler
Kepler

Miguel Sano, age 23, hit two home runs in the Twins’ 6-3 win at Tampa Bay. Sano’s teammate Max Kepler, also 23, has two multi-homer games in 2016. The last pair of Minnesota players, each under 24, who both hit two home runs in a game within the same season were Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in 2004.

According to ELIAS

Rosario gives Twins a lead in a pinch

Rosario, Eddie 2016Eddie Rosario hit a pinch-hit two-run home run in the seventh inning that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead in the Twins’ victory over the Rays. It was the first pinch-hit home run that turned a deficit into a lead for the Twins since Matt LeCroy hit one in Toronto on May 19, 2004. LeCroy’s blow was slightly more dramatic than Rosario’s; it was a grand slam in the ninth inning that turned a three-run deficit into a lead.

The pinch-hit grand slam, it has been awhile

Dwyer, JimOdds are that you will not recognize the player in this picture but he is still in the Twins organization and has been on the Fort Myers Miracle coaching staff since 2006. He played in the big leagues for 18 seasons for seven different teams but never had more than 260 at bats in any single season and played for the Minnesota Twins in 1998, 1999 and 1990.

It has been over 25 years since a Minnesota Twins batter pinch-hit a grand slam for the Minnesota Twins. This Twins were ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when “Pig Pen” stepped into the left-handed batters box to hit pinch-hit for Twins catcher Tim Laudner who was hitting in the 7-hole on that day. Right-hander Donn Pall was the third pitcher used by the mighty whitey’s that inning and he gave up the grand salami to Jim Dwyer and the Twins were up 7-2 and would eventually win the game by a score of 10-3 as Frank Viola won his 22nd game of the season. No one has pinch-hit a grand slam home run for the Twins since September 15, 1988.

Pinch-hit grand slam home runs in Twins history

Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H HR RBI
1 Jim Dwyer 1988-09-15 MIN CHW W 10-3 1 1 1 1 1 4
2 Mike Cubbage 1978-08-08 MIN SEA W 10-2 1 1 1 1 1 4
3 Rod Carew 1976-09-09 MIN TEX W 6-0 1 1 1 1 1 4
4 Tony Oliva 1975-06-29 MIN TEX L 7-9 1 1 1 1 1 4
5 Rich Reese 1972-07-09 MIN NYY L 6-9 1 1 1 1 1 4
6 Harmon Killebrew 1971-09-03 (1) MIN OAK W 9-4 1 1 1 1 1 4
7 Rick Renick 1970-06-30 MIN KCR W 8-5 1 1 1 1 1 4
8 Rich Reese 1969-08-03 MIN BAL W 5-2 1 1 1 1 1 4
9 Julio Becquer 1961-07-04 (1) MIN CHW W 6-4 1 1 1 1 1 4
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/5/2016.

ERROR, ERROR, RECOMPUTE: A bit of a technical glitch with my search, it turns out that the last player to pinch-hit a home run for the Twins was not Jim Dwyer but our old friend Matt LeCroy in 2004. Here is the corrected list.

LeCroy, Matt 4

here
Rk Player Date ? Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H HR RBI Pos Summary
1 Matt LeCroy 2004-05-19 MIN TOR W 6-5 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH 1B
2 Greg Colbrunn 1997-08-04 MIN TOR W 9-3 3 3 1 1 1 4 PH 1B
3 Jim Dwyer 1989-06-10 MIN CHW W 11-8 2 2 1 1 1 4 PH DH
4 Carmelo Castillo 1989-04-11 MIN DET W 14-0 2 1 1 1 1 4 PH RF
5 Jim Dwyer 1988-09-15 MIN CHW W 10-3 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
6 Ron Washington 1986-07-03 MIN BAL W 11-7 2 2 2 2 1 4 PH 2B
7 Dave Engle 1982-07-06 MIN DET L 6-11 4 4 1 3 1 4 PH RF
8 Mike Cubbage 1978-08-08 MIN SEA W 10-2 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
9 Rod Carew 1976-09-09 MIN TEX W 6-0 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
10 Tony Oliva 1975-06-29 MIN TEX L 7-9 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
11 Danny Walton 1973-04-17 MIN CAL W 10-5 2 2 2 2 1 4 PH DH
12 Rich Reese 1972-07-09 MIN NYY L 6-9 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
13 Harmon Killebrew 1971-09-03 (1) MIN OAK W 9-4 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
14 Rick Renick 1970-06-30 MIN KCR W 8-5 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
15 Rich Reese 1970-06-07 MIN WSA W 10-9 3 3 1 1 1 4 PH 1B
16 Rich Reese 1969-08-03 MIN BAL W 5-2 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
17 Julio Becquer 1961-07-04 (1) MIN CHW W 6-4 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/20/2016.

According to ELIAS

A one-of-a-kind day for the Indians

Cleveland_Indians_logo.svgAll four members of the Indians starting infield homered on Thursday against the Twins: first baseman Carlos Santana, second baseman Jason Kipnis, shortstop Francisco Lindor, and third baseman Jose Ramirez. But not only that: all three starting outfielders had an assist: left fielder Brandon Guyer, center fielder Rajai Davis, and right fielder Abraham Almonte. No other team in major-league history has had homers from all four of its starting infielders and assists from all three of its starting outfielders in one game.

 

Bull Dozier plowing through American League pitching this week

Brian Dozier homersBrian Dozier had two hits including a homer in the Twins’ loss in Cleveland, and over his last five games he’s collected 10 hits and slugged five homers. Over the last 30 years, the only other Twins players with 10 hits and five homers in a five-game span were Kirby Puckett (1987 and 1995) and David Ortiz (2002).

According to ELIAS

Twins top three hitters produce in win over the Indians

Dozier
Dozier
Mauer
Mauer
Kepler
Kepler

Twins leadoff hitter Brian Dozier had three RBIs and three runs scored, second-place hitter Joe Mauer had four RBIs and two runs scored and third-place hitter Max Kepler scored twice and drove in two in Minnesota’s 13-5 victory over Cleveland on Wednesday. It’s only the second time since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920 that each of the top three hitters in the Senators/Twins starting lineup produced multiple RBIs and runs scored in the same game. The only other time that happened was on July 1, 1964, when Zoilo Versalles, Rich Rollins and Tony Oliva each did it in a 14-3 win against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.