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
23-year-old Jose Berrios defeated Zack Greinke and the Diamondbacks, with the Twins winning the game 5-0. Berrios pitched seven brilliant innings in which he allowed just 2 hits and 1 walk, fanning 7. Berrios is now 11-5 in 18 starts this season. Only three other pitchers in Twins/Senators history, 23-or-younger, started a season with as many wins in their first 18 starts of a season: 22-year-old Joe Boehling in 1913 (11-5), 23-year-old Scott Erickson in 1991 (13-3), and 22-year-old Francisco Liriano in 2005 (11-3).
Jose Berrios improved his record to 7-1 in eight starts with a solid eight inning performance in the Twins’ win over the White Sox. Berrios is the sixth pitcher in Senators/Twins history to win at least seven of his first eight starts of a season. The others were Walter Johnson, who did it in 1913 (7-1) and 1925 (7-1), Joe Boehling in 1913 (7-0), Jerry Koosman in 1979 (7-0), Geoff Zahn in 1979 (7-1) and Francisco Liriano in 2006 (7-1).
Home Runs and Strikeouts, Strikeouts and Home Runs
Major League Baseball seems odds-on to set single-season industry-wide records for both home runs and strikeouts. There were 238 home runs hit in 72 major-league games from Friday to Tuesday, an average of 3.31 homers per game. That was the most homer-happy five-day period in the 142-year history of Major League Baseball, whether reckoned by total homers or by average per game.
But strikeouts grabbed the Elias Says headlines on Wednesday night, as major-league teams struck out a total of 290 times over 15 games. That average of 19.33 strikeouts per game was the highest on any day with at least 12 games played in major-league history. The previous record was set on Sept. 14, 2015, when there was an average of 19.25 strikeouts over 12 games.
Ervin Santana threw a two-hit shutout for the Twins against the Orioles last night, improving to 7-2 with a 1.80 ERA in ten starts this season. Since the franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961, only two Twins pitchers had an ERA that low through their first ten starts of a season: Francisco Liriano was 9-1 with a 1.36 ERA in his first ten starts in 2006 and Scott Erickson was 7-2 with a 1.63 ERA in his first ten starts in 1991.
Santana also improved to 4-0 in four road starts this season. His teammate Phil Hughes has also won his first four road starts this year. It’s just the third time in Twins franchise history that two pitchers each won their first four road starts of a season. It happened in 1913 with Walter Johnson (won first five road starts) and Joe Boehling (four), and in 1979 with Jerry Koosman (five) and Geoff Zahn (five).
