- When Minnesota Twins pitcher Yohan Pino will made his Major League debut Thursday night at 30 years, 175 days old at Target Field against the Chicago White Sox. He became the oldest Twin (since 1961) to make his big league debut. Yohan became the 49th starting pitcher in Major League history since at least 1914 to make his Major League debut at age 30-or-older, and just the 14th since 1982. Starters making their Major League debut at age 30-or-older have won each of their last three starts and four of the last five. Since 1982, teams are 7-6 in the 13 occurrences. The 13 pitchers have combined to go 6-4 with a 3.36 ERA (27 earned runs in 72.1 innings) with
26 walks and 52 strikeouts. - Twins second baseman Brian Dozier has hit 15 home runs while swiping 15 bases this
season, stealing his 15th earlier this week. It marks the 15th time in Club history and 12th different player with the previous ?ve being Torii Hunter in 2007 (28 homers/18 steals), Lew Ford in 2004 (15 homers/20 steals), Hunter in 2004 (23 homers/21 steals), Hunter in 2002 (29 homers/23 steals) and Corey Koskie in 2001 (26 homers/27 steals). Dozier accomplished the feat in his 68th game which is the fastest ever by a Twin and fastest in baseball since Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers did it in his 68th game. - Upon Further Review – Through 1,073 games played this season (through
Wednesday), Major League Baseball has had 541 replay reviews, which have taken an average of one minute and fifty-one seconds.
*541 Replay Reviews
*130 Confirmed
*153 Stands
*251 Overturned
*7 Record Keeping
*1:51 Average Time
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Through June 18th the American League has a 79-68 record in Interleague play and is hitting .255 and their pitchers have a 3.80 ERA. National League batters are hitting .254 and their pitchers have a 3.78 ERA.
- The CWS (College World Series) Legends Team includes former Twins Todd Walker, Eddie Bane, and Dave Winfield (former Minnesota Gopher as well).
- In baseball, a quality start is a statistic for a starting pitcher defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. The quality start was developed by sportswriter John Lowe in 1985 while writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer. The most quality starts in a season for a Twins pitcher since 2003 is 25 by Johan Santana in 2004. If you use the QS formula going back to 1961, then Bert Blyleven‘s 31 QS in 1972 would be the leader.
Twins career QS leaders from 1961 to present day
Rk | Player | QS | From | To | G | GS | CG | SHO | W | L | SV | IP | SO | HR | BF | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jim Kaat | 253 | 1961 | 1973 | 468 | 422 | 133 | 23 | 189 | 152 | .554 | 6 | 2959.1 | 1824 | 3.28 | 270 | 12385 | .256 |
2 | Bert Blyleven | 218 | 1970 | 1988 | 348 | 345 | 141 | 29 | 149 | 138 | .519 | 0 | 2566.2 | 2035 | 3.28 | 243 | 10542 | .246 |
3 | Brad Radke | 208 | 1995 | 2006 | 378 | 377 | 37 | 10 | 148 | 139 | .516 | 0 | 2451.0 | 1467 | 4.22 | 326 | 10244 | .276 |
4 | Jim Perry | 156 | 1963 | 1972 | 376 | 249 | 61 | 17 | 128 | 90 | .587 | 5 | 1883.1 | 1025 | 3.15 | 166 | 7791 | .242 |
5 | Frank Viola | 144 | 1982 | 1989 | 260 | 259 | 54 | 10 | 112 | 93 | .546 | 0 | 1772.2 | 1214 | 3.86 | 213 | 7450 | .260 |
6 | Dave Goltz | 129 | 1972 | 1979 | 247 | 215 | 80 | 11 | 96 | 79 | .549 | 3 | 1638.0 | 887 | 3.48 | 119 | 6887 | .264 |
7 | Johan Santana | 112 | 2000 | 2007 | 251 | 175 | 6 | 4 | 93 | 44 | .679 | 1 | 1308.2 | 1381 | 3.22 | 144 | 5281 | .221 |
8 | Camilo Pascual | 101 | 1961 | 1966 | 184 | 179 | 72 | 18 | 88 | 57 | .607 | 0 | 1284.2 | 994 | 3.31 | 123 | 5362 | .233 |
9 | Kevin Tapani | 98 | 1989 | 1995 | 181 | 180 | 19 | 6 | 75 | 63 | .543 | 0 | 1171.1 | 724 | 4.06 | 109 | 4897 | .270 |
10 | Eric Milton | 83 | 1998 | 2003 | 166 | 165 | 10 | 4 | 57 | 51 | .528 | 0 | 987.1 | 715 | 4.76 | 149 | 4196 | .259 |
11 | Scott Baker | 76 | 2005 | 2011 | 163 | 159 | 4 | 2 | 63 | 48 | .568 | 0 | 958.0 | 770 | 4.15 | 123 | 4004 | .266 |
12 | Dave Boswell | 76 | 1964 | 1970 | 187 | 150 | 37 | 6 | 67 | 54 | .554 | 0 | 1036.1 | 865 | 3.49 | 106 | 4344 | .217 |
13 | Scott Erickson | 73 | 1990 | 1995 | 155 | 153 | 14 | 7 | 61 | 60 | .504 | 0 | 979.1 | 527 | 4.22 | 83 | 4244 | .275 |
14 | Geoff Zahn | 71 | 1977 | 1980 | 133 | 126 | 36 | 7 | 53 | 53 | .500 | 0 | 852.0 | 348 | 3.90 | 68 | 3621 | .289 |
15 | Nick Blackburn | 69 | 2007 | 2012 | 145 | 137 | 5 | 0 | 43 | 55 | .439 | 0 | 818.2 | 388 | 4.85 | 117 | 3577 | .303 |
16 | Allan Anderson | 69 | 1986 | 1991 | 148 | 128 | 15 | 3 | 49 | 54 | .476 | 0 | 818.2 | 339 | 4.11 | 87 | 3474 | .282 |
17 | Francisco Liriano | 68 | 2005 | 2012 | 156 | 130 | 1 | 1 | 50 | 52 | .490 | 1 | 783.1 | 788 | 4.33 | 76 | 3341 | .247 |
18 | Kyle Lohse | 67 | 2001 | 2006 | 172 | 152 | 4 | 3 | 51 | 57 | .472 | 0 | 908.1 | 561 | 4.88 | 128 | 3982 | .285 |
19 | Mudcat Grant | 67 | 1964 | 1967 | 129 | 111 | 36 | 10 | 50 | 35 | .588 | 1 | 780.2 | 377 | 3.35 | 88 | 3227 | .260 |
20 | Joe Mays | 66 | 1999 | 2005 | 193 | 146 | 10 | 6 | 48 | 65 | .425 | 0 | 946.1 | 487 | 4.85 | 127 | 4110 | .282 |
If you took the list from above and looked at QS%, the Twins career leader is Johan Santana with .640% followed by Bert Blyleven at .632%. Nick Blackburn was not always a fan favorite but his career QS% is .504%, 14th best in team history. Who has the best career QS% in the AL since 1961? That would be Pedro Martinez at .751%. How about the NL you say? That is non other than Sandy Koufax at .782%.
Check out the BA column on the list above, the best is an amazing .217 career BA allowed by the late great Dave Boswell, the man has not gotten his due here in Minnesota and should be in the Twins Hall of Fame. Aren’t statistics fun?
Baseball is such an amazing game, you never know what you will see next and how many times have you watched a game and told yourself, Geez, I have never seen that happen before. How about this one, Brewers score three on one wild pitch.