Did you know?

At the 2017 All-Star break the Twins record from 1961 to current stands at 4,461 wins and 4,560 losses. The Twins have won a total of 410 games in walk-off fashion and lost 412 games via the walk-off. The means that 09.11% of the Twins games end via a walk-off in one fashion or another. 

The best season the Twins have ever had for walk-off wins was 1987 when they had 16 walk-off victories. The fewest walk-off wins occurred in 1982 when they had just two.  So far in 2017 they have also had just two walk-off wins.

Naturally there is the other side of the coin and the Minnesota Twins suffered 15 walk-off defeats in 1964 but only had three in 1993 and 2006. So far this season they have just one walk-off loss.

Twins walk-off King

So who is the Twins walk-off king? That would be non other than Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett who had 12 walk-off hits in his Twins career, Kent Hrbek was not far behind with 11. 

 

According to ELIAS – Home Runs and Strikeouts are up, up and away

Home runs and strikeouts were the pre-break stories

There have been 3343 home runs hit in the 1326 major-league games this season, an average of 2.52 per game. That’s the second-highest homers-per-game average at the All-Star break in MLB history. (That figure was at 2.56 in 2000, before falling off to 2.34 at season’s end, which still stands as the all-time record.) The average of 16.48 strikeouts per game this year is the highest at the break in MLB history.

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Lombardozzi

One player made his big league debut as a Minnesota Twin on July 12

Steve Lombardozzi (2B) – July 12, 1985 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 9th round of the 1981 amateur draft. Lombardozzi debuted in the big leagues as a pinch-hitter for Kent Hrbek  and went 0 for 1 with a strike out in a Twins 3-2 win at Tiger Stadium.

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Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Tonkin & Renick

Two major league debuts in a Twins uniform on July 11.

 

Michael Tonkin

Michael Tonkin (P) – July 11, 2013 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 30th round of the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft. A nice 1.1 inning debut in a Twins 4-3 loss to Tampa at Tropicana Field.

Rick Renick – (3B/OF/SS) – July 11, 1968 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in 1965. Debuted at Met Stadium as the starting shortstop and in his first at bat hit a home run off Tigers starter Mickey Lolich off a high fastball into the left field stands. Renick became the first Minnesota Twins player to hit a home run in his first at bat.

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Twins Minor League Player of the Week – Alex Robinson

Alex Robinson

Cedar Rapids Kernels left-handed pitcher Alex Robinson has been named Twins minor league Player of the Week. The 22-year-old Robinson appeared in three games for the Kernels, pitching 4.0 shutout innings with eight strikeouts, no hits allowed, no walks and one save. In his third season of pro ball Robinson has had more innings pitched than hits allowed and more strikeouts than innings pitched.

The Queens, NY native was drafted by the Twins in the fifth round of the 2015 First Year Player Draft out of the University of Maryland.

Twins Minor League Report 07082017

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 24 – Twins take two from White Sox

After the White Sox took the first two games from the Minnesota Twins, 31, 141 fans packed White Sox Park to see the home town nine take two more from the visiting Twins. But, it was not to be, after spotting the Whitey’s a one run lead the Twins tied it in the fourth inning and then scored 2 in the 5th, 6th, and 8th innings and held on for a 7-4 win in game one. Jim Kaat hit his first home run of the season.  Zoilo Versalles had 3 hits and Rich Rollins, Bob Allison and Jim Kaat each had 2 hits. Jim Kaat took home the win and Ron Kline registered the save. Box Score

In game two the Twins were out hit 8 to 6 but managed to out score the White Sox 5 to 1 and a double-header sweep was in the books. Dave Boswell was credited with the victory to even his record at 8-8 and Al Worthington notched his 12th save of the season. When the day was done the Twins still found themselves in third place but now only 2.5 games behind the league leading WSox but only a half game behind the Tigers at the All-Star break. Box Score

Pitcher Dean Chance along with Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Rod Carew (who missed the week-end series due to military obligations) left for the All-Star game in Anaheim after the DH was complete and were accompanied by manager Cal Ermer and owner Calvin Griffith.

 

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

Major League debuts as Minnesota Twins – Ron Keller

Only the one player made his major league debut as a Minnesota Twin on July the 9th. This debut is extra special however; because Ron Keller was the first player to be drafted and signed by the Minnesota Twins and make his big league debut wearing the colors of the Minnesota Twins.

 

Ron Keller

Ron Keller (P) – July 9, 1966 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 8th round of the 1965 amateur draft. The Twins were already down 5-0 when Ron Keller was called upon by Sam Mele to relieve Jim Merritt. Keller had a clean first inning on the Met Stadium mound but then allowed 3 runs in the next inning including a home run by future Hall of Famer Al Kaline and kept the Tigers off the board in his third inning of relief. 

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The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 23 – White (Sox) lightning strikes again

The Twins lost to the AL league leading Chicago White Sox for the second day in a row via a walk-off and again the White Sox did it with out the benefit of a hit. On Friday they lost on a walk-off error and today they lost on a walk-off Sac fly by Wayne Causey off Twins starting pitcher Jim Merritt.

Starting pitchers Tommy John and Jim Merritt was tied up in a scoreless pitching duel until the bottom of the ninth when the White Sox loaded the bases on a double and two intentional walks and Causey delivered the walk-off Sac fly. Merritt lost his first game of season and is now 6-1 and Tommy John who allowed just three hits, all to Tony Oliva upped his record to 8-5 and the White Sox stretched their lead over the now third place Twins to 4 1/2 games. The Twins and White Sox have a doubleheader scheduled for tomorrow.

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

According to ELIAS – Twins bounce back from 6 runs down

Twins spot the O’s a TD, win it with 3 field goals

The Twins spotted the Orioles a 6-0 early advantage built on three early home runs, but slow-and-steady won the race as Minnesota, without benefit of a single round-tripper, attained a 9-6 victory at Target Field last night. How did the Twins do it? Every player in the lineup either scored or drove in at least one run, and Paul Molitor’s crew produced seven hits in 13 at-bats with runners in scoring position. That performance lifted the Twins’ season batting average with runners in scoring position to .254, the highest that it’s been since the first week in May.

Meanwhile, it was the second game that the Orioles have lost this season after leading by at least six runs. Back on April 28, the Orioles blew a 9-1 lead and wound up losing to the Yankees, 14-11. No other major-league team has lost two games after leading by six-plus runs this season.

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Mike Walters

Just one major league debut as a Minnesota Twin on  July 8.

Mike Walters (P) – July 8, 1983 – Traded by the California Angels with Tom Brunansky and $400,000 to the Minnesota Twins for Doug Corbett and Rob Wilfong on May 12, 1982. The Twins were down 10-0 at the Dome when Walters came in to pitch 4.2 innings of scoreless relief allowing just 2 hits and a walk while striking out four.

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