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
Kluber throws one-hitter at Target Field
Corey Kluber allowed only one hit in nine innings–a home run by Joe Mauer— in the Indians’ 6-1 victory in Minneapolis yesterday. The only other major-league pitcher in the last five seasons to throw a complete-game one-hitter in which that lone hit was a home run was the Mariners’ Taijuan Walker on July 31 of this year, coincidentally also against the Twins at Target Field, although Minnesota’s home run in that game was hit by Miguel Sano. Source: ELIAS
I thought that with all the attention this year on the length of games that it would be fun to take a look at some of the quickest nine inning games in Twins history in terms of wall clock time. The fastest game turned out to be a Twins 3-0 loss at Exhibition Stadium to the Toronto Blue Jays as starter Jim Clancy and his Twins counterpart Frank Viola faced off.
| Rk | Date | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | Attendance | GmLen ? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1982-09-28 (1) | TOR | L 0-3 | 28 | 27 | 0 | 93 |
| 2 | 1973-07-01 | CAL | W 2-1 | 32 | 31 | 27,068 | 100 |
| 2 | 1968-09-13 | BOS | L 0-3 | 31 | 31 | 23,171 | 100 |
| 4 | 1968-08-22 | NYY | W 3-1 | 31 | 26 | 15,898 | 102 |
| 5 | 1979-08-12 | OAK | W 1-0 | 30 | 27 | 14,500 | 103 |
| 5 | 1974-06-17 | BAL | L 0-1 | 31 | 29 | 7,157 | 103 |
| 7 | 1975-09-26 | CHW | W 2-1 | 33 | 29 | 2,769 | 105 |
| 7 | 1966-04-12 | KCA | W 2-1 | 29 | 26 | 21,658 | 105 |
The fastest Twins nine inning game in this century you ask? That would be a 1-0 loss to the Oakland A’s in McAfee Park on June 2, 2007 when Joe Blanton beat Carlos Silva in one hour and 49 minutes. Since the 2000 season began, the Twins have played in only nine complete games that lasted two hours or less.
The Twins longest game in terms of time was a 17 inning six-hour and 36 minute affair back on May 7, 1995 when the Indians beat the Twins 10-9 at Jacob’s Field. I suspect that the 39,431 fans at the ballpark got their money’s worth that day. I wonder what Tom Kelly’s temperament was like after that game? The Twins used nine pitchers and the Indians used eight. Oddly enough, the Twins have played only two games that lasted six or more hours and they were both against the Cleveland Indians. The other long game against the boys from Cleveland was a six-hour and 17 minute affair at the Metrodome but this time the Twins came out with a 5-4 win in 22 innings on August 31, 1993.
I also took a look at the length of an average Twins game in 1961 versus an average Twins game in 2014. Back in the Twins initial season an average Twins game took two hours and 40 minutes, last year an average Twins game took three hours and 7 minutes.
Salazar stingy after allowing a homer to lead off the game
Danny Salazar retired every one of the 21 batters he faced (including 11 strikeouts) after he allowed a first-inning leadoff home run to Brian Dozier in the Indians’ 8-2 win over the Twins in Cleveland yesterday. Salazar became the first major-leaguer to win a game in which he pitched at least seven innings with the only hit against him being a home run to lead off the first inning since Jack McDowell tossed a complete game in the White Sox’ 15-1 victory at Milwaukee on July 14, 1991. The Brewers’ only hit in that game was a home run by Paul Molitor to lead off the bottom of the first inning.
Hunter dials back the years
Torii Hunter followed his 4-for-4 performance on Friday with hits on each of his first three at-bats in the Twins’ 7-4 win at Cleveland. Hunter, whose first hit on Saturday was a home run, became the first 39-year-old with hits on seven straight ABs since Chili Davis did it for the Yankees in 1999. Hunter’s current manager, Paul Molitor, also had seven straight hits at age 39 for the Blue Jays in 1995. Source: ELIAS
4/23/1961 – The Twins play their first 1-0 game in history and come up winners at Met Stadium when Jack Kralick pitches a complete game 4 hit shutout of the Washington Senators. Kralick also knocks in the Twins lone run of the game with a fifth inning single. Box score
4/23/1980 – Angels pitcher Bruce Kison settles for a one-hitter when Minnesota’s Ken Landreaux rips a double with one out in the 9th inning of California’s 17-0 romp. For Landreaux, the hit marks the beginning of a 31-game hitting streak. Box score
4/23/1982 – The Twins beat the Seattle Mariners 12-4 at the Kingdome. Twins pitcher Roger Erickson recovers after a rough first inning where he gives up 3 runs on 5 hits and proceeds to pitch a complete game. Erickson strikes out no one and gives up 13 hits and walks two more in this unusual game. It marks the only time that Erickson pitched a complete game with no strikeouts. Twins hitters were no slouches themselves as they had 18 hits and drew 6 walks. Ron Washington had 4 hits and Bobby Mitchell and Gary Ward had 3 hits apiece.
Box score . See the table below showing all Twins pitchers that have pitched a complete game with zero strikeouts.
4/23/2011 – The Twins beat the visiting Cleveland Indians 10-3 at Target Field and in the process score more than 5 runs in a game for the first time in 2011. The Twins have not scored more than five runs in any game this season (19 games), according to the Elias Sports Bureau, it is the longest such streak to start a season in Twins history, and the longest streak in franchise history (the 1909 Washington Senators failed to score more than five runs in their first 18 games).The Twins were the only team in Major League Baseball that hasn’t scored six-or-more runs in a game in 2011. Box score
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| Rk | Player | Date ? | Opp | Rslt | App,Dec | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | Pit | BF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brad Radke | 2002-05-08 | KCR | W 3-1 | CG 9, W | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 106 | 32 |
| 2 | Allan Anderson | 1991-04-20 | CAL | L 1-2 | CG 8, L | 8.0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 29 |
| 3 | Allan Anderson | 1988-08-04 | TOR | W 2-1 | CG 9, W | 9.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 102 | 29 |
| 4 | Les Straker | 1987-06-29 | KCR | L 2-3 | CG 5, L | 4.1 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 17 | |
| 5 | Ken Schrom | 1985-04-12 | SEA | L 1-2 | CG 8, L | 8.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 31 | |
| 6 | Roger Erickson | 1982-04-23 | SEA | W 12-4 | CG 9, W | 9.0 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 39 | |
| 7 | Paul Hartzell | 1979-04-30 | TOR | W 6-3 | CG 9, W | 9.0 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 36 | |
| 8 | Dave Goltz | 1978-06-23 | CHW | W 2-1 | CG 9, W | 9.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 | |
| 9 | Steve Luebber | 1976-09-08 | TEX | W 3-1 | CG 7, W | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 26 | |
| 10 | Danny Fife | 1973-09-28 | CAL | W 7-1 | CG 9, W | 9.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 39 | |
| 11 | Jim Kaat | 1965-04-17 | CLE | W 3-0 | SHO9, W | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
Zoilo Versalles the Minnesota Twins enigmatic shortstop of the early 60’s would go on to win the 1965 American League Most Valuable Player Award at the age of 25 and become the first player in franchise history (Senators or Twins) to win that award. Versalles however; was not the easiest player to manage and was a high maintenance player as this incident in the April 17, 1965 Sporting News describes. Manager Sam Mele and coach Billy Martin worked hard to keep Zoilo on the straight and narrow and it paid off in 1965.
I was fortunate enough to get to see Versalles play and he was a skilled shortstop but his focus was not always there and that weakness led to numerous errors on routine plays. If you want to know more about the man who Twins fans called “Zorro” you might want to check out his SABR Bio.
The Sporting News also covers Don Mincher‘s request to be traded and all the rookies that were fighting to make the Twins roster that season.
By this date in 1965 the Twins had played five games, four of them at Met Stadium and had a 4-1 record putting them in a tie for first place. According to the “TWINS JOURNAL” (by John Snyder):
“A week before the Twins opener, Metropolitan Stadium was covered by five inches of snow. Rain and melting snow caused rivers to rise, turning the entire state into a disaster area. Twelve people died in Minnesota because of the floods. Due to a pair of postponements, the Twins opened the season by playing their first three games against three different teams, the Yankees, Tigers, and Indians”.
The temperature on opening day (April 12) at game-time was 44 degrees along with an 18 MPH wind. Flood waters forced Twins players Jim Kaat, Rich Rollins, Bill Bethea, and Dick Stigman to be brought to the stadium by helicopter due to rising flood waters of the Mississippi River. The Twins won their opener 5-4 in 11 innings in front of 15,388 shivering fans. The next three games at the Met due to the bad weather brought in “crowds” of 2,382, 4,492, and 3,273 fans. The Twins were happy to leave Minnesota behind and they went to New York where they beat the Yankees 7-2 on April 21. Due to the inclement weather the Twins played only five games during the first 10 days of the 1965 season.
Another extra-inning walkoff for Plouffe versus Cleveland
Trevor Plouffe sent Twins fans home happy last night after launching a walkoff homer in the 11th inning against the Indians. Plouffe’s game-winning hit marked the second time he recorded a game-ending RBI versus Cleveland in extra-innings, the third-baseman had a walkoff single in the 10th inning against the Indians on September 19, 2014. Two other active players have recorded multiple walkoff RBIs in extra-innings versus Cleveland – Justin Morneau and Jeff Mathis (each player has two such RBIs). Source – ELIAS
Unless something unforeseen happens the Minnesota Twins will not be booking a lot of frequent flyer miles in 2015 as they will only have to fly 23,866 miles this coming season. Only seven teams, the Indians with 23,499, the Brewers with 23,429, the White Sox with 23,180, the Tigers with 22,508, the Cubs with 20,953, the Cardinals with 20,875 and the Reds with 20,612 will fly fewer miles than our home town boys. The Mariners on the other hand will be on the other end of the spectrum and will need to fly 43,281 miles to play out their schedule of games in 2015.
The site I used to look up this information has information going back to 2009. Based on their numbers the 2015 Minnesota Twins will fly fewer miles than any Twins team has flown from 2009 through 2014.
Miles flown by the Minnesota Twins
2014 – 29,532
2013 – 29,043
2012 – 25,546
2011 – 32,199
2010 – 27,398
2009 – 25,315
So when you hear those Minnesota Twins radio and television announcers talk about the teams grueling travel schedule you can say, “what a bunch of BS”, they got it easy.
I have followed baseball for a long time and it seems like the New York Yankees are always beating the Minnesota Twins. Truth or myth? I decided to check it out with an assist from baseball-reference.com .
It turns that the Yankees are indeed the toughest team to beat for our home town nine. Since 1961 they have played the Yankees 600 times and won just 252 of those match-ups for a .421 winning percentage. Actually I am surprised that the winning percentage is as high as it is because it seems like the Twins always lose to the Yankees.
Who do the Twins beat up on most frequently? That would be the Senators/Rangers franchise whom the Twins have played 696 times and whipped them on 366 occasions for a .527 winning percentage. I have left the Houston Astros off the list since their time in the American League just started last season and I have included the Brewers/Pilots franchise since the Twins play them every year even though they have been in the National League for many of these years.
| FRANCHISE | TEAMS | GAMES | WON | LOST | WIN % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RANGERS | SENATORS,RANGERS | 696 | 366 | 329 | .527 |
| TIGERS | 779 | 409 | 369 | .526 | |
| WHITE SOX | 844 | 441 | 400 | .524 | |
| ROYALS | 714 | 373 | 341 | .522 | |
| BREWERS | PILOTS,BREWERS | 449 | 232 | 217 | .517 |
| A’S | KC,OAKLAND | 707 | 360 | 347 | .509 |
| RED SOX | 596 | 298 | 298 | .500 | |
| RAYS | 129 | 63 | 66 | .488 | |
| MARINERS | 422 | 205 | 216 | .487 | |
| INDIANS | 777 | 375 | 401 | .483 | |
| ANGELS | 692 | 331 | 361 | .478 | |
| ORIOLES | 600 | 276 | 324 | .460 | |
| BLUE JAYS | 362 | 158 | 204 | .436 | |
| YANKEES | 600 | 252 | 347 | .421 |
Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision
Trevor Plouffe drove in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the 10th inning in Minnesota’s 5-4 win over Cleveland last night. Plouffe had not had an RBI in extra innings over the last two seasons prior to his heroics in Cleveland. Plouffe’s 130 total RBIs since the start of the 2013 season were the fourth most for any A.L. player that had not driven in a run beyond the ninth inning entering Friday’s action, behind Edwin Encarnacion (191), Adam Dunn (147) and James Loney (141).
A bonus fan fact:
With his hit in last nights game Danny Santana has now gotten a hit in 17 straight games when he has played and gotten at least one official at bat at Target Field. The previous Twins record was 16 games for Ben Revere. The Twins record holder for a hitting streak with at least one at bat in the Metrodome is Kent Hrbek with 23 games in 1982. The Twins record holder at Met Stadium is Rod Carew at 21 games and he did it twice, in 1974 and again in 1977. The longest similar hitting streak by a Twins opponent in a Twins stadium is 27 games by Garret Anderson between June 8, 1997 and September 2, 2003 at the Metrodome. Next on the list at 23 games, Jim Thome.