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
According to WikipediA, 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 has effectively replaced the ‘complete game’ as a meaningful measure of a starting pitcher’s performance.
The quality start was developed by sportswriter John Lowe in 1985 while writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Nolan Ryan has used the term “High Quality Start” for games where the pitcher goes seven innings or more and allows three earned runs or fewer, which baseball columnist and formber BBWAA president Derrick Goold referred to as “Quality Start Plus.”
Earlier this week on April 5 the Twins beat the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park by a score of 15-6. Matt Shoemaker started his first game in a Twins uniform and went six innings throwing 92 pitches and allowing three hits and one run before manager Rocco Baldelli said that was enough. The Twins had a 15-1 lead at that point and Shoemaker was in line for the win.
Baldelli brought in his long man Randy Dobnak to finish things off and Dobnak did just that going the final three innings. The first two innings were uneventful but the third and final inning was interesting. The ninth inning started as you would like to see with Dobnak retiring the first two batters. But the next hitter Victor Reyes took Dobnak deep. Then he gave up a single, then a double and then a walk to load the bases for former Twins minor league outfielder and Tigers Rule 5 pick-up Akil Baddoo who crushed a Dobnak pitch for a grand slam home run and all of a sudden it was a 15-6 ballgame. No worries, Dobnak retired JaCoby Jones on a groundout and the game was over and the Twins had the 15-6 win.
Since the Minnesota Twins started play here in 1961 they have played 9,451 games through August 31, 2020. The Twins obviously needed a starting or in recent times an opening pitcher for each of those games.
Sometimes the starts don’t go exactly as planned as the pitchers on the list included here can attest. If you watched one of these games you were probably saying “get him out of there” but did you know that you were watching something pretty rare? A Minnesota Twins starter getting pulled and sent to the showers before he hardly had a chance to work up a sweat doesn’t happen very often, as a matter of fact it hasn’t happened since 2012 when P.J. Walters was the unlucky victim. Just looking at Twins history, it has happened just 17 times in 9,451 games or in just .0017% of the starts.
If you take a closer look at the list you will see there are some pretty good starters on this list. One of these types of starts doesn’t always guarantee that the team would lose either, in four of the seventeen cases the Twins came back to win the game. In six of the seventeen cases shown here the starter didn’t walk away with the “L”.
If you want to check out some Twins historically bad starts in terms of runs allowed, I did a piece on that called “Historically bad starts by Twins pitchers” back on 2015 that you can also check out.
This past Thursday Ryne Harper pitched 3.1 innings of solid relief against the Toronto Blue Jays at Target Field giving his team a chance to come back and win the game. The Twins didn’t come back to win the game but the 31-year-old rookie pitcher did his share.
Twins relief pitchers have pitched 3 or more innings in a game 1,787 times since 1961. From 1961-1969 Twins relievers did it 282 times, in the 70’s they did it 475 times, in the 80’s they did it 388 times, in the 90’s they did it 358 times, in the 2000’s Twins relievers did it 161 times and from 2010 through yesterday it has been done 123 times and to be fair, some of these occurrences starting in 2018 are “primary pitchers” following an “opener”.
Ray Corbin
The longest Twins relief appearance took place back on May 25, 1975 when Ray Corbin relieved Vic Albury after just two outs when the Detroit Tigers jumped on Albury for three first inning runs at Metropolitan Stadium and manager Frank Quilici had seen enough. Corbin pitched the next 10.1 innings allowing just two runs (one earned) on seven hits and four walks along with four strikeouts. The game was tied at 4-4 after five innings until the Tigers scored an unearned run off Corbin (Corbin’s error) in the top of the 11th inning to take a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the 11th Tiger pitcher John Hiller walked Steve Brye and Larry Hisle followed with a two-run home run and the Twins walked off the Tigers 6-5 with Ray Corbin getting the well deserved win. Just four days earlier Corbin had pitched 6.1 innings of relief.
Vic Albury
As irony would have it, just over a month later on June 30th the Twins were facing the California Angels at the Met and the Twins started Ray Corbin. Before Corbin could retire a single Angel batter he gave up five straight singles and John Doherty followed with a three-run homer, the only home run he would hit that season and the Angels were up 6-0 and Twins skipper Frank Quilici sent Corbin to the showers and called for Vic Albury. Albury held the Angels scoreless for 8 innings before running into trouble in the ninth when he gave up four runs but only one earned run on three hits and an error. Albury pitched 9 innings of relief allowing the one earned run on six hits and seven walks while striking out four batters and ended up with a no decision for his days work as the Angels beat the Twins 10-3.
Twins relievers have pitched seven or more innings in a game a total of 33 times. Ray Corbin and Tom Burgmeier each did it on three occasions. It has been a long time since it was done last, 34 years ago Dennis Burtt was the last Twins pitcher to pitch seven or more innings of relief when he did it in October of 1985 in a 8-6 Twins loss to the Indians at the Metrodome.
It appears that it is just not starting pitchers that are pitching fewer innings in each start, it looks like relievers don’t stay in games as long either.
I recently checked out a book out of the local library called “The 34-Ton Bat” written by one of my favorite writers, Steve Rushin. Rushin was born in Elmhurst, Ill. and raised in Bloomington, Minnesota.
According to Rushin, he had a great-great uncle Jack Boyle who played for the Cincinnati Red Stockings, St.Louis Browns, Chicago Pirates, New York Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies between 1886 and 1898 and in 1892 was signed by the Giants for $5,500 and was the highest paid player in baseball history. Boyle was primarily a catcher and first baseman but could and did play every other position but pitcher.
Steve Rushin wanted to get into baseball and was hired by the Minnesota Twins at the age of 13 in 1979 to be a vendor at Met Stadium and did so until the early 80’s when he along with the Twins moved to the Metrodome. After graduating from Bloomington Kennedy High School in 1984 and Marquette University in 1988, Rushin joined the staff of Sports Illustrated.
Randy Hundley
But on with our story, it is not about Steve Rushin, it is about what he wrote about former Twins catcher Randy Hundley. Hundley was acquired by the Minnesota Twins on December 6, 1973 when they sent catcher George Mitterwald over to the Chicago Cubs.
The only player to make his big league debut as a Minnesota Twin on August 7 is ….
Vic Albury (P) – August 7, 1973 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins from the San Diego Padres in the 1970 minor league draft. Albury’s debut took place at Met Stadium in a 10-4 loss to the Orioles. Albury was the Twins third pitcher of the day and he walked his first batter, committed a balk, and allowed a single before retiring the side with one run scored. He then pitched a clean second inning of relief before being replaced by Ray Corbin.
With the Twins on a roll and their starting pitchers pitching well this might not be a good time to bring back bad memories but I couldn’t help myself after seeing that the New York Yankees were not good hosts to the Kansas City Royals and Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie yesterday when they pounded the Royals 14-1 and sent Guthrie to the showers after he had retired just 3 batters and allowed 9 hits, 3 walks and 11 earned runs. A tough day for Guthrie and for those fantasy players that had Guthrie in their line-up yesterday.
So of course that got me wondering what Twins pitchers over the years had rough outings like this. Turns out that the most earned runs given up by a Twins pitcher is 10, here are the pitchers that made the list. Note that some of the pitchers on this list pitched in relief.
. The worst Twins start probably belongs to Joe Decker who lasted just one inning and allowed 10 earnies to the Kansas City Royals back on May 12, 1976 at Royals Stadium. I should note however; that the most runs that a Twins hurler has ever given up in a game is 11 by Rick Reed in that April 21, 2003 loss to the Yankees by a 15-1 score at the Metrodome. Two Twins starters, Frank Viola on May 20, 1986 and Ray CorbinJune 30, 1975 allowed 6 earned runs without retiring a single out before they were asked to hand over the baseball and leave the pitching mound.
So what Twins starter gave up the most earned runs and still won the game? That would be Jim Kaat who pitched a complete nine inning game on July 2, 1964 and beat the Red Sox 15-9 at Fenway Park while giving up nine earned runs.
A pitcher gets credit for aquality start (QS) any time he allows three earned runs or less in a start that lasts at least six innings. John Lowe who was writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer at the time developed and coined the term Quality Start back in 1985.
Most arguments against the QS begin with the statement that a QS equals a 4.50 ERA and an ERA of 4.50 is not seen as top-notch by anybody. If you look up QS on Wiki you can find some strange situations for and against the term QS, for example, in 2000 Mark Mulder goes 6 and 2/3 innings giving up 15 hits, nine runs but only two were earned and so he gets a QS, in 1982 Mike Scott goes the required 6 innings giving up 7 hits, 5 walks, zero strikeouts, allows 7 runs albeit only 3 earned and he get a QS, on the other side of the coin, back in 1974 Gaylord Perry goes 15 innings and allows 4 earned runs and get no QS, same with Randy Johnson who pitches a complete game while striking out 19 but gives up 4 earnies and gets no QS.
Since 1961, the most MLB QS in a single season record is held by White Sox knuckleballer Wilbur Wood who had 37 QS in 41 starts in 1971. Next on the list is Dodger great Sandy Koufax with 36 QS in 1966 (his final season) in 41 starts. The career leaders in QS from 1961-current are Don Sutton with 483, Nolan Ryan with 481, and Greg Maddux with 480.
But how close is the relationship of a QS to what really counts, a team victory. If you look at the list that I have provided below that shows the Minnesota Twins QS and the team record you can get a feel for how the two compare. Sure, there are outlier seasons like 1972 when the team had 114 QS and finished the season with a 77-77 record or when the opposite happened in 2006 when the Twins went to the play-offs with a 96-66 record but only had 73 QS. By the way, I don’t remember seeing any Rick Anderson for governor buttons back then.
The Twins historical QS numbers are kind of strange, almost a bell-shaped curve. The Twins have had 90 or more QS in a season 11 times and went to the playoffs zero times. No Twins team with 72 or less QS has sniffed the playoffs either. The Twins have advanced to the playoffs 11 times and their QS were always in the 73-89 range and if you exclude the 2006 season with just 73 QS, the other ten fall between 78-89. Having said all that, in the past 54 seasons the Twins have had 4,266 QS, the team record during that period is 4,274-4,335. 4,266 QS and 4,274 wins over 54 seasons, is that strange or what?
The chart below shows you in a pictorial fashion the relationship of QS and Twins victories. Click on the chart to make it larger.
Twins Quality Start History
YEAR
QS
RECORD
1972
114
77-77
1967
105
91-71
1968
100
79-83
1966
99
89-73
1963
95
91-70
1973
93
81-81
1978
92
73-89
1974
90
82-80
1984
90
81-81
1988
90
91-71
2005
90
83-79
1965*
89
102-60
1970*
89
98-64
1991*
89
95-67
1969*
88
97-65
1971
88
74-86
1989
88
80-82
1964
86
79-83
2008
86
88-75
2010*
86
94-68
1976
83
85-77
1992
83
90-72
2004*
83
92-70
1980
82
77-84
1987*
80
85-77
2001
80
85-77
2003*
80
90-72
2007
80
79-83
2011
80
63-99
1962
79
91-71
2009*
79
87-76
1998
78
70-92
2002*
78
94-67
1961
75
70-90
1990
75
74-88
1985
74
77-85
1979
73
82-80
2006*
73
96-66
1975
71
76-83
1986
71
71-91
2000
71
69-93
1977
70
84-77
1993
69
71-91
1996
69
78-84
1983
67
70-92
1982
66
60-102
2014
66
70-92
1999
63
63-97
2012
62
66-96
2013
62
66-96
1997
61
68-94
1981
56
41-68
1995
43
56-88
1994
37
53-60
TOTALS
4,266
4,274-4,335
* = went to playoffs
.
Twins QS data by decade
DECADE
QS
AVG. QS PER SEASON
1960’s
816
90.7
1970’s
863
86.3
1980’s
764
76.4
1990’s
667
66.7
2000’s
800
80.0
2010’s
356
71.2
Data provided by Baseball-Reference Play Index.
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I asked Jim Kaat if he would comment on Quality Starts and here is what Jim had to say-
Thanks John,
I’m happy to comment on “Quality Starts”. It’s one of my favorite subjects because it is misunderstood. My pitching stats person, Merrianna McCully, has compiled a 25 year profile on QS’s in her book ‘Three Up Three Down’. She kept all sorts of pitching stats for me from 1988-2006…
The MINIMUM DAILY REQUIREMENT,[ like a vitamin pill] is 6 ip. 3 er or less..the actual earned run averages in a Quality start is a little under 2 in the NL and about 2.05 in the American league..DH factor…The IP’s in a QS game will close to 8 innings pitched. The records show that if a team got just a minimum daily requirement for a QS they would win about 2/3 of their games unless they had an extremely ineffective bullpen.
A list of Minnesota Twins pitchers with the best Twins career ERA’s with a requirement of having pitched at leat 500 innings in a Twins uniform. Only Dean Chance has an Twin career ERA of under 3.00 and only 18 Twins pitchers have thrown 500 or more innings and have an ERA under 4.00. It just goes to show the state of Twins pitching over the years. But how do the Twins compare to the rest of the American League?
Let’s take a look at how the Twins compare to the rest of the American League from 1961 to current again with the requirement of 500 innings.
Team
ERA under 2.00
ERA under 3.00
ERA under 4.00
Angels
0
3
30
Yankees
0
7
29
Orioles
0
6
26
Whie Sox
1
4
25
A’s
0
5
25
Red Sox
0
2
22
Tigers
0
1
20
Rangers
0
0
20
Indians
0
4
19
Royals
0
1
19
Twins
0
1
18
Blue Jays
0
1
11
Mariners
0
0
7
Rays
0
0
5
The only ERA under 2.00 belongs to Hall of Famer Hoyt Wilhelm who had a 1.92 ERA for the Pale Hose in 675.2 innings but he only had 3 starts in those 361 games between 1963-1968.
The Twins have been in Minnesota for 53 years and have played 8,455 games winning 4,204 and losing 4,243. (just a FYI, the Angels who also started play in 1961 have won 4,220 games). Over the 53 years and 8,455 games Twins starters have pitched 9 innings or more in a start exactly 300 times (3.55%). Keep in mind that I am talking 9 innings or more pitched in a start, not complete games.
But sometimes just going 9 innings does not get the job done as you can see in the table below. In these 71 games the Twins starter took the mound in inning number 10 and sometimes even innings 11 and 12. The last Twins starter to hurl more than 9 innings in a start was Brad Radke in 1997.
But only one starting pitcher for the Twins, Jim Merritt has gone 13 innings and that remains a team record that in today’s pitch count world will probably never be broken. The franchise record is 18 innings held by Hall of Famer Walter Johnson who went the distance in a 1-0 Washington Senators win over the Chicago White Sox at Griffith Stadium in just 2 hours and 50 minutes on May 15, 1918.
But it is not just starting pitchers that have toiled long and hard to win a game. Here I look at relievers who have pitched 7 or more innings of relief in a game and Ray Corbin holds the team record for pitching 10.1 innings of relief against the Tigers in 1975. Corbin who was a starter/reliever during his five years in Minnesota pitched in just 11 more big league games after this long relief outing allowing at least one earned run in each appearance and never again pitched in a big league game.
