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
Two players made their major league debuts wearing Minnesota Twins duds on July 7th.
Ryan O’Rourke
Ryan O’Rourke (P) – July 7, 2015 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 13th round of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft. A nice clean inning with a strikeout on just 8 pitches at Target Field against the Baltimore Orioles in a 8-3 Twins win.
Pat Neshek (I love this card)
Pat Neshek (P) – July 7, 2006 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 6th round of the 2002 MLB June Amateur Draft. Closed out he game with 2 innings at Ameriquest Field in a 9-4 Twins loss. Where is Ameriquest Field you ask?
The Twins scored all six of their runs in the third inning in their win over the Orioles at Target Field last night. It’s the ninth time that the 2017 Minnesota Twins have scored a half-dozen runs in an inning this season, the highest total in the major leagues. Minnesota scored six runs in an inning only three times last season.
The Twins eight game winning streak came to an abrupt end at White Sox Park when the Mighty Whities walked off the Twins 2-1. The Twins scored one run in the first inning when Cesar Tovar led off the game with a double and Tony Oliva doubled him home with two out. These would be the only hits the Twins would get. Starters Gary Peters and the Twins Dean Chance dueled and after 8 innings it was still one to nothing Twins. But here the game seemed to take a turn in favor of the White Sox.
In the 8th inning Sox coach Kerby Farrell seemed to notice “a black substance on Dean Chance’s pitching hand” and Eddie Stanky complained to umpire Al Salerno who told Chance to wipe his hands clean. Chance stated that it was just resin build-up but all of a sudden Chance seemed to lose his control. After walking none through 7 innings Chance walked one in the 8th and 2 in the ninth before being lifted for reliever Al Worthington who inherited a bases-loaded one out situation. Worthington retired Don Buford on a foul pop-up to third but then Ron Hansen hit a ground ball to the left of second base but shortstop Zoilo Versalles was playing deep in the hole and the ball bounced off of Versalles glove and bounced into right field allowing two runs to score. Box Score.
Ervin Santana went all the way in a losing effort, throwing 117 pitches in the Twins’ 2-1 loss to the Angels at Target Field last night. Santana became only the second big-league pitcher this season to toss a nine-inning, complete-game loss; Marcus Stroman threw 100 pitches in a 2-0 loss to the Brewers on April 12. But it’s nothing new for Santana, who tossed a 97-pitch, nine-inning, complete-game loss against the Braves last July 26. He’s the first major-leaguer to throw nine-inning, complete-game losses in each of two consecutive seasons since James Shields did it for the Rays in 2012 and for the Royals in 2013.
Never mind a wing and a prayer; Angels win on a homer and a steal
Kole Calhoun homered in the first inning and Cameron Maybin stole home as part of a double steal in the sixth to account for the Angels’ runs in their 2-1 victory over Ervin Santana in Minneapolis.
You have to go back 14 years to find the last major-league game won by a team that scored just two runs—one on a homer and the other on a steal. On June 12, 2003, Cincinnati’s Austin Kearns took care of both ends of the equation in a 2-1 victory over the Devil Rays in St. Petersburg: Kearns stole home as part of a double steal in the second inning, then homered in the sixth. Wednesday’s contest was the first in Angels history in which they scored two runs on a game, on a homer and a steal of home.
The Twins jumped on the Yankees scoring in each of the first five innings and held on for a 10-4 win over the Bronx Bombers. Jim Kaat pitched a complete game allowing 12 hits while striking out 6 and allowing the 4 runs. Rich Reese, Tony Oliva, and Ted Uhlaender supported Kaat with home runs. Reese (4) and Uhlaender (3) had 7 of the 10 RBI between them.
The eighth win in a row puts the Twins in lone possession of second place in the AL just 3 games back as they prepare to hit the road to play the league leading Chicago White Sox.
The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.
Byron Buxton’s sixth-inning home run was a highlight in the Twins’ 5–4 win over the Angels. Buxton’s homer snapped his streak of 61 consecutive at-bats without an extra-base hit. That was tied for the second-longest current streak of that kind among active position players who have appeared in a game this season. A.J. Ellis has not produced a double, triple or home run in his last 73 at-bats.
Eddie Bane (P) – July 4, 1973 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (11th pick) of the 1973 amateur draft. The box score says that 45, 890 fans, the largest crowd to ever see a Twins regular season game pack into Met Stadium to see something they have never seen before. The crowd was so big that the game’s start was held up for 15 minutes waiting for the fans to enter. They were there to see the Twins first round selection and 11th overall, LHP Eddie Bane, go from the campus of Arizona State University straight to the big leagues. Bane’s signing bonus of slightly over $50,000 was repaid that day and then some.
Eddie Bane (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)
The Kansas City Royals were the Twins opponent that day and took a 1-0 lead in the third inning off Bane on a single and a double. Bane went on to pitch 7 innings allowing just 3 hits, 3 walks and 1 run while striking out three before being lifted by manager Frank Quilici trailing 1-0. The Twins scored 3 in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 3-1 lead but the Twins bullpen gave up 4 runs in the top of the ninth to allow the Royals to retake the lead at 5-3. The Twins tried to rally in the bottom of the ninth and scored another run but their rally fell short and the Royals beat the Twins 5-4. Eddie Bane received a ND for his efforts.
I did an interview with Eddie a few years ago that you can listen to by going here.
You can read what the July 5 Star Tribune had to say about the game:
Fourth-place batter Max Kepler went 4-for-4 with a home run in the Twins’ 9–5 home win over the Angels yesterday. It had been almost exactly eight years since a Minnesota cleanup hitter went 4-for-4 or better, including a home run. On July 4, 2009, Justin Morneau was 4-for-4 with one homer in a 4–3 win over the Tigers at the Metrodome.
The Minnesota Twins end June 36-34 record and in third place, 7 games behind the league leading Chicago White Sox and just one and a half a games behind the second place Detroit Tigers. Although the team has not put together any long winning streak, they have not lost back-to-back games since May 30th.
With the 1967 All-Star game just 11 days away, the Twins know they have a tough row to hoe before they get a few days off as they have three doubleheaders to play before taking time off for the mid-summer classic. That will be 11 games in 9 days.
New Twins manager Cal Ermer has a new plan in mind for Twins starting pitchers that maybe today’s Twins should implement. You can read about it in the Sporting News article below.
