According to ELIAS

Satisfying night for Phil Hughes

Phil Hughes 2015Phil Hughes tossed seven scoreless innings against his former team as the Twins knocked out four home runs and took a 10-1 decision from the Yankees. Hughes emphatically ended his streak of having allowed at least one home run in each of his last eight appearances, the longest such streak in the majors this season.

It was Minnesota’s largest margin of victory over the Yankees in nearly 24 years; the Twins last beat the Yankees by a margin of at least nine runs on July 31, 1991, when they did it with a 12-3 win at old Yankee Stadium that also included four Minnesota homers. New York avoided a shutout by scoring a run in the ninth – a shutout that would have been only the second double-digit shutout loss ever to the Twins or to their ancestors, the Washington Senators. That’s right. These teams have been playing each other for 113 years, but the only double-digit shutout loss for the Yankees came on Sept. 7, 1928, when the Senators’ Bump Hadley three-hit the Yanks, 11-0. (Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig accounted for all three Yankees hits.) Source: ELIAS

According to ELIAS

Guess who leads the AL in two-strike extra-base hits?

Trevor Plouffe 2015Trevor Plouffe’s three-run homer on a 1-2 pitch yesterday accounted for all the scoring in the Twins’ 3-0 victory over the Angels. It was Plouffe’s 20th extra-base hit this season with two strikes in the count, the most by any American League player. Source: ELIAS

Twins minor league player of the week

Matt Batts
Matt Batts

Ft. Myers (High A)  left-handed pitcher Mat Batts (Harrison Mathis Batts) is the Twins minor league Player of the Week. Batts made one start for the Miracle on Friday at Brevard County, allowing one run on five hits in 7.0 innings pitched with no walks and five strikeouts, earning the win. Batts combined to go 7-4, 1.89 ERA (95.0 IP, 20 ER) with 19 walks and 93 strikeouts in 16 starts between Cedar Rapids (Low A) and Ft. Myers.

The Winston-Salem, North Carolina native was drafted by the Twins in the 17th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington where he was named Colonial Athletic Association Pitcher of the Year in 2013 and 2014. At Mount Tabor High School, Batts was named first-team All-State as a senior and set a school record by throwing a perfect game and a no-hitter in consecutive games.

Twins Minor League Report July 19, 2015

This Day in Twins History – Martin & Fox duke it out

Blly Martin
Blly Martin
Howard Fox
Howard Fox

July 19, 1966 – Two members of the Minnesota Twins exchanged blows in the lobby of the Statler-Hilton hotel after the team arrived in Washington early Tuesday. Howard Fox, the Twins’ traveling secretary, suffered a bloody nose and a cut on the face in the fight with third base coach Billy Martin. Martin was not injured. “Martin and Fox had words during the course of the flight here and again in the lobby as the team was checking in,” said Thomas A. Mee, director of public relations. Four other Twins – Bob Allison, Earl Battey, Jim Perry and Harmon Killebrew – broke up the fight after several punches were thrown.

Billy Martin in scrap with Howard Fox

This Day in Twins History – July 16, 1969

Shown here is Carew sliding past White Sox catcher Don Pavletich, the umpire is Bob Stewart, and the batter (number 13) is John Roseboro.
Carew sliding past White Sox catcher Don Pavletich, the umpire is Bob Stewart, and the batter (number 13) is John Roseboro.

July 16, 1969 – Rod Carew steals home for the 7th time, as the AL-West leading Twins sweep a twin bill, winning 9-8 and 6-3 from the White Sox. Carew ties Pete Reiser’s 1946 record for steals of home in a season. Here you can read some excerpts from Carew’s autobiography “Carew.”

Please stop by our Today in Twins History page to see all the other Twins events that occurred on July 16 over the years.

Twins minor league player of the week

Oswaldo Arcia 2015Rochester (AAA) outfielder Oswaldo Arcia is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Arcia appeared in eight games for the Red Wings, hitting .296 (8-for-27) with one double, five home runs, 11 RBI, seven runs scored and four walks. Arcia started the 2015 season in Minnesota but after an injury in early May the Twins sent the 24-year-old Arcia to rehab in Rochester and he has played there since that time. In 40 games for the Red Wings, Arcia has hit .274 (40-for-146) with 10 doubles, eight home runs and 29 RBI.

Arcia signed with Minnesota in 2007 at the age of 16 and made his major league debut with the Twins on April 15, 2013. Arcia hit 20 home runs last season for the Twins but has not shown enough consistency to stay with the big league this year and as we all know, Arcia can certainly use some improvement in his outfield play. Oswaldo has a brother, Orlando Arcia who is an infielder in the Brewers organization.

Twins Minor League Report July 12, 2015

According to ELIAS

Dozier, Twins shock Tigers with ninth-inning rally

Brian DozierBrian Dozier capped a seven-run outburst in the bottom of the ninth inning with a three-run homer against Tigers closer Joakim Soria to give the Twins an 8-6 walk-off victory. The win marks the first time since May 27, 1997 that Minnesota walked off with a win after trailing by at least five runs entering the bottom of the ninth inning – the Twins erased a five-run deficit in the ninth inning against the Mariners in that comeback victory. For the Tigers, it marks just the second time in the last 65 years that they lost a game in which they led by at least five runs in the ninth inning or later. On August 29, 1986, the Angels plated eight runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to clinch a 13-12 win over Detroit, capped by a walk-off grand slam by Dick Schofield.

Roy Sievers - 1954 Topps
Roy Sievers – 1954 Topps

Dozier, who also launched a walk-off home run on July 6 against the Orioles to open the Twins’ home-stand, is the second player in franchise history to record multiple walk-off homers in a single home-stand. Roy Sievers achieved that feat for the Washington Senators in the 1958 campaign, having hit game-ending homers against the Indians on July 16 and the White Sox on July 20.

Remembering 1965 – Part 14 – 1965 Reunion Weekend

1965 World SeriesThe Minnesota Twins will honor the 1965 American League champion Minnesota Twins team with special events on Friday, July 31, and a special pregame ceremony on Saturday, August 1, during the match-up against the Seattle Mariners. Additional information on the event is available on the Twins web site. The Twins Press Release for the event can be seen below.

1965 Reunion Plans

According to ELIAS

Sano and Bryant with similar starts through 20 at-bats

Miguel Sanol 2015Miguel Sano went 2-for-3 and hit his first career home run as the Twins defeated the Orioles, 8-3. Sano has nine hits (including two doubles and a homer) in his first 20 major-league at-bats, becoming the second player to make his MLB debut in 2015 and collect at least nine hits in his first 20 at-bats, with three going for extra bases. The first was Kris Bryant, who started 9-for-20 with four doubles in April.