The Twins entered the top of the ninth inning with a 2-0 lead over the Tigers. J.D. Martinez‘s three-run home run off Glen Perkins turned that lead into a 3-2 deficit before the Twins rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for the win. It’s been over 30 years since the Twins won a game in which they led entering the top of the ninth inning; fell behind in the top of the ninth before rallying in the bottom of the ninth for the win. The Twins last such win occurred on April 13, 1984 against the Mariners. Minnesota saw a 2-1 lead disappear when Alvin Davis and Ricky Nelson hit back-to-back home runs off Ron Davis to open the top of the ninth inning. The Twins rallied in the bottom of the ninth on RBI singles by Tim Teufel and Tom Brunansky for the win.
Tag: Detroit Tigers
According to Elias
Torii Hunter‘s solo home run in the ninth inning broke a 6-6 tie and Miguel Cabrera added some insurance with a homer of his own to give the Tigers an 8-6 win at Target Field yesterday. Hunter is the second player to appear in at least 500 games for the Minnesota Twins and then hit a game-winning home run in the ninth inning or later against them. He joins Rod Carew, who connected for a home run in the 15th inning to give the Angels a victory over Minnesota in 1980.
According to Elias
Quintana joins Sale to form big-strikeout duo for Sox
Jose Quintana struck out 13 Minnesota Twins in seven innings of the White Sox’ 5-1 victory in the first game of their doubleheader in Chicago. Quintana is the second left-handed pitcher this season to strike out 13 batters in a game for the Southsiders; Chris Sale fanned 13 Tigers on August 30. Only three other teams in the modern era (since 1900) have had two different southpaws record 13+ strikeouts in a game: The 1959 Dodgers (Sandy Koufax and Johnny Podres), 1969 Tigers (Mickey Lolich and Mike Kilkenny), and 1971 Tigers (Lolich and Les Cain).
Jose Quintana is the second White Sox pitcher in 2014 to strike out at least a dozen Twins in a game. Chris Sale recorded 12 strikeouts at Target Field on July 26. It’s the third time that two different White Sox pitchers have registered a 12-strikeout game versus the same opponent in the same year. In 1954, Billy Pierce and Jack Harshman both struck out a dozen Tigers in a game. And in 1961, Pierce and Juan Pizarro each put up 12+ Ks in a game versus the Orioles.
A record-tying strikeout performance for Minnesota, Chicago
Twins and White Sox pitchers combined to strike out 45 batters in their doubleheader yesterday. That tied the modern major-league record for combined strikeouts by two teams over two nine-inning games in a day. Rockies and Marlins hurlers also fanned 45 in two games on August 16, 2009.
This Day in Twins History – September 6, 1954
Sixty years ago today, in 1954 the Washington Senators played a black ballplayer for the first time. His name was Carlos Paula and he was from Havana, Cuba. The 26 year-old Paula started in left field for the Senators seven years after Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut. Paula went 2 for 5 with a double and knocked in 2 runs in a 8-1 win in game 1 of a DH against the Philadelphia A’s. The Senators lost game 2 by a 3-2 score at Griffith Stadium. Only the Yankees in 1955, the Phillies in 1957, the Tigers in 1958 and the Red Sox in 1959 broke the color-line later than did the Senators/Twins franchise. Paula died on April 25, 1983 in Miami, Florida.
I think that theatlantic.com always is an interesting read and if you saw the movie “42” here is something you might also enjoy reading that they published in April 2013.
An interesting post done back in 2007 by MNGAMEDAY that is worth your time.
According to Elias
Trevor Plouffe‘s solo home run in the seventh inning would not appear to be notable at first glance, especially since the Twins would muster no more offense in their 9-1 loss at Oriole Park at Camden Yards last night. That long ball however was indeed historic – it was the 10,000th home run hit by the Twins/Senators franchise. They were the last of the 16 pre-expansion franchises to reach 10,000 home runs. The Twins have contributed 7,214 of those homers while the Senators hit 2,786. By the way, Plouffe also hit Twins home run numbers 9,999 and 10,001.
The Washington Senators’ longtime home field, Griffith Stadium, had very distant fences and high outfield walls. One of the most remarkable statistics in baseball history: In 1945, the Senators went through the entire season of 78 home games hitting exactly one home run in their own park – and that one was an inside-the-park four-bagger! This wasn’t in 1845; it was 1945! And that 1945 team was pretty good – finishing second, one and one-half games behind the Tigers, who would go on to win the World Series.
Twins score 20
The Twins beat up on the Detroit Tigers 20-6 last night at Target Field in front of 29,394 fans that had to watch 3 hours and 59 minutes of baseball if they wanted to see the games final pitch. The Twins are the first AL team this season to score 20 runs in a game and this is the most runs ever scored by the Twins in a game at Target Field.
This is the 13th time in franchise history and the eighth time in Twins team history that the team has scored 20 or more runs in a game. The Detroit Tigers have been the unlucky victims of the Twins/Senators 20 or more runs parade on five occasions, four times by the Twins and once by the Washington Senators.
The Twins previous high for runs scored in a game at Target field occurred on July 16, 2012 when they out-scored the Baltimore Orioles 19-7. The Twins have had 20 runs scored against them just three times and always on the road. The Twins lost to the Kansas City A’s 20-2 on April 25, 1961, they lost 23-6 to the Kansas City Royals on April 6, 1974 and they lost a 20-6 game to the Texas Rangers on July 25, 2011.
| Rk | Date | Tm | Opp | Rslt | PA | AB | R | H | HR | BB | LOB | Attendance | GmLen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1996-04-24 | MIN | DET | W 24-11 | 60 | 46 | 24 | 19 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 12,189 | 223 |
| 2 | 2002-06-04 | MIN | CLE | W 23-2 | 57 | 50 | 23 | 25 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 14,029 | 194 |
| 3 | 1994-06-04 | MIN | DET | W 21-7 | 57 | 49 | 21 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 23,780 | 194 |
| 4 | 1994-05-20 | MIN | BOS | W 21-2 | 54 | 44 | 21 | 22 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 20,766 | 188 |
| 5 | 1929-08-05 | WSH | DET | W 21-5 | 51 | 41 | 21 | 21 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 132 | |
| 6 | 2014-08-22 | MIN | DET | W 20-6 | 55 | 46 | 20 | 20 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 29,394 | 239 |
| 7 | 2009-05-21 | MIN | CHW | W 20-1 | 54 | 46 | 20 | 20 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 23,048 | 178 |
| 8 | 2007-07-06 (1) | MIN | CHW | W 20-14 | 57 | 47 | 20 | 21 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 31,543 | 222 |
| 9 | 1980-04-27 | MIN | OAK | W 20-11 | 52 | 41 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 19,859 | 197 |
| 10 | 1943-08-01 (2) | WSH | SLB | W 20-6 | 56 | 41 | 20 | 19 | 0 | 12 | 12 | 15,579 | 136 |
| 11 | 1925-08-22 | WSH | DET | W 20-5 | 55 | 44 | 20 | 19 | 3 | 10 | 8 | 162 | |
| 12 | 1923-08-24 | WSH | CLE | W 20-8 | 59 | 42 | 20 | 22 | 0 | 14 | 12 | 150 | |
| 13 | 1915-09-29 (2) | WSH | PHA | W 20-5 | 52 | 43 | 20 | 23 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 110 |
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Here is what ELIAS had to say about the game: Eduardo Escobar led the Twins’ 20-hit attack, going 5-for-6 from the eighth slot in the lineup, in their 20-6 victory over the Tigers. He was the first major-league player to collect five hits, including a home run, in a game from either the eighth or ninth slot in the lineup since Detroit’s Carlos Pena generated six hits, including a pair of homers, at Kansas City back in 2004.
Escobar’s night began with a second-inning homer off Robbie Ray, and he followed with a single off Blaine Hardy, a triple off Jim Johnson, a single off Joba Chamberlain and another single off pitcher-for-a-day infielder Andrew Romine. Escobar became the second Twins player this month to get hits off five different pitchers in the same game – Danny Santana did it against the White Sox on August 3 – something no other big-leaguer has done this season.
And just to complete the story, we note that Escobar also made a pair of errors at shortstop on Friday night. The last major-leaguer with at least five hits and at least two errors in the same game was Kansas City’s Angel Berroa, who did it in a game at Cleveland in September 2003.
For the Twins, their 20-run, 20-hit performance marked just the eighth time in modern major-league history that a team had posted those exact numbers – and three of those eight games have been produced by the Twins. Minnesota went 20/20 against the Athletics in 1980 and against the White Sox in 2009.
According to Elias
J.D. Martinez lifted a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning that plated the winning run for the Tigers in their 4-3 triumph over the Twins. Twins reliever Casey Fien, who was tagged with the loss for Minnesota, has been on the mound for three walkoff defeats this season (game-ending singles by Cleveland’s Mike Aviles on May 7 and Toronto’s Kevin Pillar on June 9 before Martinez’s game-winner on Sunday), tying him with Boston’s Andrew Miller for the most in the major leagues.
How often do the Twins lose when they score 9 runs?
After the Twins lost 12-9 to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Saturday I wondered how often the Twins had lost games when they scored 9 runs. After Saturday’s defeat their 2014 record was 32 wins and 34 losses and their historical won/lost record (since the team moved here in 1961) stood at 4,236 wins and 4,277 losses.
After doing a bit of research here is what I found.
13 runs – The Twins have scored 13 runs or more in a game 137 times and their record when they score 13 runs or more is 135-2. This is the most runs that the Twins have scored and still lost the game and it happened on two occasions. The first time it happened was on September 29, 1970 in a 14-13 loss in 12 innings to the Kansas City Royals at Met Stadium. The Twins led 9-5 after eight innings but KC scored 6 in the top of the 9th to take a 11 to 9 lead but the Twins tied it with 2 in the bottom of the ninth off Royals reliever Ted Abernathy to send the game into extra innings. No one scored in the 10th inning but both teams scored twice in the 11th inning and the game continued. The Royals scored once in the top of the 12th and the Twins came up empty in the bottom of the inning and lost the game 14-13. You need to check out the boxscore from the game as Twins manager Bill Rigney and Royals manager Bob Lemon had the wheels turning. Rigney used 27 players in the game and Lemon used 22 players. Who knocked in the winning run? 37 year-old relief pitcher Ted Abernathy.
The second time the Twins scored 13 runs and walked away losers was on July 20, 2009 when the Twins lost to the Oakland A’s 14-13 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Gardy and his Twins had a 12-5 lead after 3 innings and 13-7 after 6 innings but the A’s scored 7 in the bottom of the 7th inning and held on for a come from behind 14-13 victory. Current Twins fans will certainly recognize many of the players in this Boxscore.
12 runs – The Twins have scored 12 runs and lost 6 times in their 4,277 losses.
11 runs – The Twins have scored 11 runs and lost 9 times in their 4,277 losses.
10 runs – The Twins have scored 10 runs and lost 17 times in their 4,277 losses.
9 runs – The Twins have scored 9 runs and lost 32 times in their 4,277 losses. So here was my answer, it does not happen very often, in just 00.75% of the losses.
8 runs – The Twins have scored 8 runs and lost 63 times in their 4,277 losses.
7 runs – The Twins have scored 7 runs and lost 121 times in their 4,277 losses.
6 runs – The Twins have scored 6 runs and lost 200 times in their 4,277 losses.
According to Elias and a little extra
The biggest pitch Kyle Gibson threw in his seven scoreless innings on Friday night was the one that induced a Miguel Cabrera double-play grounder with the bases loaded in the fifth inning. Cabrera entered the game with a career .417 batting average with the bases loaded which was the second-highest such average for any player who debuted in the expansion era (since 1961) and has at least 100 at-bats with the bases full, behind Tony Gwynn (.444). Twins beat the Tigers 2-0 at Comerica Park. Miguel Cabrera enters today’s game with impressive career numbers vs. Minnesota. Cabrera is batting .314 (139×443) with 31 doubles, 28 home runs and 108 RBI in 118 career games against the Minnesota Twins. He ranks third among all active players with 28 home runs and 108 RBI, fourth with 78 runs scored, sixth with 31 doubles and eighth with 139 hits against the club. Cabrera has hit safely in each of his last six games and 11 of his last 14 contests vs. Minnesota.
When I modified the number of at bats need to qualify from 1oo to 50 then I get an interesting cast of characters that knew how to hit in the clutch but maybe did not have careers as long as Gwynn and Cabrera. Note that former Twins 3B Rich Rollins is very high on the list and that outfielder Jason Kubel was a qualifier too. Phil Nevin was a Twins player too but since he only had 8 hits in a Twins uniform we didn’t see his clutch hitting skills. This list is from 1961-current.
| Rk | Player | G | Gtot | BAtot | PA | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pat Tabler | 105 | 1202 | .489 | .282 | 109 | 88 | 80 | 43 | 2 | 108 | 11 | 9 | .505 | .693 | 1.198 |
| 2 | Russ Snyder | 70 | 1365 | .483 | .271 | 67 | 60 | 77 | 29 | 2 | 68 | 5 | 5 | .507 | .717 | 1.224 |
| 3 | Felix Jose | 53 | 747 | .481 | .280 | 56 | 52 | 39 | 25 | 2 | 60 | 1 | 9 | .464 | .788 | 1.253 |
| 4 | Jeff Keppinger | 67 | 818 | .456 | .282 | 69 | 57 | 55 | 26 | 0 | 65 | 4 | 4 | .435 | .614 | 1.049 |
| 5 | Tony Gwynn | 153 | 2440 | .444 | .338 | 158 | 133 | 211 | 59 | 3 | 143 | 9 | 8 | .433 | .594 | 1.027 |
| 6 | Rich Rollins | 75 | 1002 | .443 | .269 | 75 | 70 | 66 | 31 | 4 | 80 | 4 | 4 | .467 | .714 | 1.181 |
| 7 | Ian Desmond | 60 | 682 | .434 | .270 | 60 | 53 | 41 | 23 | 2 | 51 | 0 | 7 | .383 | .585 | .968 |
| 8 | Rennie Stennett | 81 | 1237 | .423 | .274 | 80 | 71 | 65 | 30 | 1 | 71 | 4 | 3 | .425 | .521 | .946 |
| 9 | Mike Blowers | 89 | 761 | .420 | .257 | 92 | 81 | 48 | 34 | 7 | 92 | 5 | 20 | .424 | .827 | 1.251 |
| 10 | Rusty Greer | 97 | 1027 | .418 | .305 | 98 | 79 | 98 | 33 | 6 | 97 | 10 | 14 | .449 | .684 | 1.133 |
| 11 | Miguel Cabrera | 164 | 1723 | .414 | .321 | 165 | 140 | 170 | 58 | 4 | 150 | 10 | 28 | .418 | .614 | 1.032 |
| 12 | Joe Orsulak | 93 | 1494 | .410 | .273 | 96 | 78 | 90 | 32 | 2 | 82 | 9 | 7 | .448 | .564 | 1.012 |
| 13 | Mark Grace | 163 | 2245 | .402 | .303 | 168 | 127 | 173 | 51 | 3 | 156 | 21 | 8 | .429 | .575 | 1.003 |
| 14 | Carlos Guillen | 148 | 1305 | .402 | .285 | 154 | 127 | 122 | 51 | 3 | 140 | 11 | 16 | .403 | .622 | 1.025 |
| 15 | Mike Hargrove | 109 | 1666 | .402 | .290 | 111 | 82 | 136 | 33 | 1 | 101 | 20 | 14 | .486 | .549 | 1.035 |
| 16 | Jim Gentile | 83 | 936 | .400 | .260 | 86 | 70 | 73 | 28 | 6 | 92 | 11 | 23 | .453 | .729 | 1.182 |
| 17 | Eddie Murray | 298 | 3026 | .399 | .287 | 302 | 238 | 285 | 95 | 19 | 299 | 22 | 34 | .387 | .739 | 1.127 |
| 18 | Kevin Seitzer | 118 | 1439 | .398 | .295 | 116 | 93 | 118 | 37 | 4 | 110 | 17 | 8 | .466 | .624 | 1.089 |
| 19 | Phil Nevin | 125 | 1217 | .397 | .270 | 135 | 116 | 106 | 46 | 7 | 120 | 9 | 28 | .422 | .621 | 1.043 |
| 20 | Ross Gload | 58 | 795 | .396 | .281 | 62 | 53 | 29 | 21 | 1 | 50 | 4 | 8 | .403 | .547 | .950 |
| 21 | Mike LaValliere | 71 | 879 | .393 | .268 | 72 | 61 | 34 | 24 | 1 | 62 | 5 | 6 | .403 | .557 | .960 |
| 22 | Troy Tulowitzki | 97 | 934 | .393 | .299 | 102 | 89 | 82 | 35 | 2 | 81 | 4 | 17 | .392 | .562 | .954 |
| 23 | Jason Kubel | 105 | 1036 | .392 | .262 | 115 | 97 | 71 | 38 | 8 | 110 | 7 | 22 | .391 | .732 | 1.123 |
| 24 | Richie Zisk | 109 | 1453 | .392 | .287 | 110 | 97 | 97 | 38 | 3 | 99 | 6 | 22 | .400 | .598 | .998 |
| 25 | Bill Madlock | 128 | 1806 | .390 | .305 | 128 | 105 | 154 | 41 | 3 | 116 | 7 | 7 | .383 | .600 | .983 |
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This Day in Twins History – June 11
6/11/1964 – The LA Angels trade outfielder Frank Kostro to the Twins for 1B Vic Power and outfielder Lenny Green. Certainly not one of the better trades in Twins history.
6/11/1965 – The Twins sweep the Detroit Tigers at Tiger Stadium by a 5-4 score in both games with the first game going 10 innings and the second game going 12 innings. Tiger reliever Terry Fox takes the loss in both games. Boxscore: Game 1, Game 2
6/11/1972– Jim Kaat hits a home run off Cleveland pitcher Vince Colbert in a Twins 5-3 victory at Cleveland Stadium. This now stands as the last home run that has been hit by a Twins pitcher. Boxscore
6/11/1986– The Twins lose to the Texas Rangers 6-2 in sixteen innings at the Metrodome. The game is tied 2-2 after 9 innings and both starters, Charlie Hough for the Rangers and Allan Anderson for the Twins are still in the game. Anderson ends up going 10 and Hough keeps throwing that knuckler of his for 13 innings. The Rangers score 4 in the top of the 16th inning off Roy Lee Jackson for the win. Boxscore
6/11/2010 – Francisco Liriano ties a team record when he strikes out 7 consecutive Atlanta Braves batters in a 2-1 win at Target Field. Liriano used his slider to strike out Martin Prado and Jason Heyward to end the third inning. He struck out Chipper Jones on a slider, Troy Glaus on a change-up and Brian McCann on a slider to get through the fourth. Liriano opened the fifth by striking out Yunel Escobar on a slider and Omar Infante with a change-up. Jim Merritt also accomplished this feat on July 21, 1966 against the Washington Senators.
6/11/2011 – One of only three Cy Young Award winners (1970) in Twins history, right-hander Jim Perry was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame today. Jim, 75, is the older brother of 72-year-old Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry. Between the two of them, the Perry brothers won 529 games and three Cy Young Awards, as Gaylord won the honor in 1972 with the Indians and in ’78 with the Padres. The Perry brothers are the second-winningest brother combination in baseball history behind Joe Niekro and Phil Niekro, who had 539 victories between them.