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2024 – TWINS END ROAD TRIP IN WORST WAY POSSIBLE: The Twins lost to the Orioles on the last day of their 2-5 road trip by a score of 4-2, suffering their first walk-off defeat of the season as Cedric Mullins hit a two-run homer off Griffin Jax. Pablo López was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing one run on two hits in 6 innings pitched (87 pitches), with no walks and seven strikeouts — his only run allowed came on a Gunnar Henderson leadoff home run. The Twins struggling offense recorded five hits, struck out nine times, walked twice and went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Jax (1-2) took the loss and Craig Kimbrel (3-0) took the win for the O’s. The fourth place Twins head home to take on the visiting Detroit Tigers. Box Score
2023 – No Twins game today, scheduled day off.
2022 – The Twins hitting woes continue as they lose to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park by a score of 8-1. The game was scoreless through five innings until the Sox took a 2-0 lead in the sixth inning. Bailey Ober (1-1) was the starter and loser, allowing two unearned runs on four hits in 6 innings pitched with one walk and three strikeouts. The Twins are hitting an AL league low .187 and the offense recorded just four hits, two from Gio Urshela. This is the sixth time in nine games this season the Twins have had five hits or less. Trevor Larnach drove in the only Twins run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning. Carlos Correa had a 15 pitch at bat before being retired, the second longest in the last 34 years by a Twin. Jorge Polanco had a 16 pitch AB in 2021. Box Score
2021 – No Twins game today. Major League Baseball announced on April 27th that the postponed games between the Angels and Twins, originally scheduled for April 17-18 at Angel Stadium, will be made up as a traditional doubleheader beginning at 1:07 p.m. (PT) on Thursday, May 20, which was originally an off-day for both clubs. The Twins will be finishing a six-game homestand, fly to Southern California for the two games, then travel to Cleveland for three.
About an hour or so prior to game time MLB issued the following press release:
Tonight’s scheduled game between the host Los Angeles Angels and the Minnesota Twins at Angel Stadium has been postponed to allow for continued testing and contact tracing involving members of the Twins organization. Major League Baseball will continue to provide updates as available.
Shortly there after MLB issues another press release, this one addressing tomorrow’s game.
In addition to the previous postponement of tonight’s game, Sunday’s scheduled game between the host Los Angeles Angels and the Minnesota Twins at Angel Stadium has been postponed to allow for continued testing and contact tracing involving members of the Twins organization. Major League Baseball will continue to provide updates as available.
In this weeks Minnesota Twins COVID outbreak Andrelton Simmons and Kyle Garlick have been identified as having tested positive. One other unidentified Twins player has also tested positive.
2020 – The Twins would have been home today playing the Detroit Tigers on a cool evening in the Twins first home night game of the season. But we all know the season thus far has been postponed due to COVID-19. Counting today it means we have missed 20 games so far.
2019 – The Twins playing in cool weather at Target Field finally beat Toronto when Jake Odorizzi goes 5.2 nice innings allowing one run and striking out 6 and records his first win of the season while the bullpen keeps the Jays off the board. Nelson Cruz and Jorge Polanco each get two hits and Cruz drives in 2 runs. Twins record is 9-6 and they are in second place .5 games out. The Twins set another record low attendance with a crowd of just 11,465 tickets sold, actual crowd much less. Box Score
2018 – Amidst all the noise within Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico on a Tuesday night, Corey Kluber put his intense focus on full display for the raucous crowd. The Cleveland Indians’ ace ignored the tambourines and thunder-sticks and whistles and horns and chants, and delivered another strong performance. In a 6-1 victory over the Twins in the opener of the 2018 Puerto Rico Series, Francisco Lindor delivered the signature moment with a towering two-run home run that electrified a crowd that hardly needed help. The Puerto Rico-born shortstop answered a curtain call and stole the spotlight, and that was probably the preference of the stoic Kluber, who never seeks attention as his list of accolades grows. The game was a scoreless pitching duel between Kluber and the Twins Jake Odorizzi but Cleveland scored first five runs and held on to beat the Twins who were the home team in front of a reported crowd of 19,516. This is first regular season game that the Twins have played outside of North America. The Twins who had not played since April 12 due to weather issues and a travel day finally scored in the bottom of the seventh on a Max Kepler double and Brian Dozier knocked Kepler in with a double of his own. Box Score
2014 – What a day! Yesterday’s Twins/Blue Jays game was snowed out so the Twins scheduled a doubleheader for today in spite of 4″ of snow that fell at the ballpark last night. The weird snow storm dumped 20″ in North Branch but only .03″ at the airport. When Kyle Gibson threw the first pitch in the first game at Target Field it was just 31 degrees, an all-time record cold temperature for a Twins home game that has since been surpassed. The Twins won game 1 by a score of 7-0 in front of 20,507 shivering fans. In the 2 hour and 38 minute game Kyle Gibson allowed just four hits in 8 scoreless innings on the mound and was credited with the win and upped his record to 3-0. Anthony Swarzak pitched the final inning for Minnesota. Box Score
The second game of the DH which was the make-up game started about 6PM and the Twins won 9-5 but it was how they won that game that was unusual as 20,698 fans looked on but there were far less when the eighth inning hubbub started. The Twins scored six runs on only one hit in the bottom of the eighth inning as they came from behind to beat the Blue Jays, 9-5, in the second half of their split doubleheader at Target Field. Minnesota’s six-run “rally” benefited from the almost total inability of Toronto pitchers to throw strikes in that inning, as Steve Delabar, Sergio Santos and J.A. Happ combined to walk eight Twins batters. (Santos also threw three run-scoring wild pitches in that inning.). Twins first baseman Chris Colabello had 3 hits, two of which were doubles and he knocked in three base runners. Casey Fien picked up the win. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Minnesota was the first big-league team to draw eight walks in one inning since April 19, 1996. The eight walks in one inning set a Twins club record, their previous record was six, done twice – April 16, 1961 at Baltimore (first inning) and July 15, 1965 vs. Kansas City (fourth inning). Both of the attendance totals were “paid attendance” and not a real count of fans in the stands and the estimate for fans in attendance was less than 12,000 for game one and even less for game two. Box Score
2013 – No game today. Twins /Angels game at Target Field was rained out and will now be played on September 9.
2009 – Jason Kubel hit for the cycle at the Metrodome against the Angels. Kubel became the ninth Twins player to hit for the cycle when he doubled in the first, singled in the third, and tripled n the sixth before clobbering a grand slam home run in the 8th inning as the Twins rallied for an 11-9 win. It was only the third time in MLB history a player had completed hitting for the cycle with a grand slam home run. It was done previously by two shortstops, Tony Lazzeri in 1932 and Miguel Tejada in 2001. The Angels jumped out to a 8-3 lead but the Twins came back with a 7 run 8th inning behind Kubel’s booming bat. Box Score
2006 – No game today, scheduled day off.
1999 – The Twins lose game one of the DH in Cleveland 5-1. The Twins only had 5 hits and Charles Nagy got the best of Brad Radke on this day. The Twins highlights in this game were a home run by Chad Allen and five innings of four-hit scoreless relief pitching by Dan Perkins. Box Score
In game two the Twins trail the Indians 7-1 after seven innings but explode for 7 runs in the top of the 8th inning to take an 8-7 lead only to have Cleveland tie it up with a pinch-hit home run by David Justice off Rick Aguilera in the bottom of the ninth. After a scoreless 10th inning the Twins score 5 runs in the top of the 11th and hold on for a 13-8 victory for a split in the double-header. The 4 hour 20 minute game featured 16 Twins hits led by shortstop Denny Hocking who went 4 for 6 with a double, a home run, scored twice and had 1 RBI and 2 stolen bases. Matt Lawton entered the game as a pinch-hitter and proceeded to hit a grand slam home run in the seven run eighth inning. Rick Aguilera who blew the save was credited with the win. Box Score
Drafted by the Twins in the 52nd round in 1989.
1979 – A record Opening Day crowd of 37,270 showed up on a beautiful 63 degree day at Met Stadium to usher in the Twins 19th season in Minnesota. The first ball was thrown out by Governor Al Quie. The walk-up crowd was so big that the start of the game was delayed by 15 minutes and still there were fans at the ticket windows when the game began. The opponent was the California Angels and their new attraction, first baseman Rod Carew. The 7-2 Twins sent Dave Goltz to the mound and the 7-3 Angels countered with Nolan Ryan. The Angels scored a run in the top of the first and for all intensive purposes the game was over but no one knew it. The Angels added four in the fifth and one more in the seventh for a 6-0 shutout win. Ryan (2-1) got the win striking out 10 Twins and allowed just four hits and the game was over in a quick 2 hours and 25 minutes. Goltz (1-2) took the loss giving up 5 runs (4 earned) on 9 hits. Butch Wynegar had the only Twins extra-base hit, a double in the third. The Angels on the other hand had a home run, three triples, and a double. The Twins proclaimed Jeff Micko of Inver Grove Heights as their 20 millionth fan and gave him four season tickets and a week-end at a local hotel. Twins players voted to allow female reporters into the Twins clubhouse but no one showed up to take advantage of the decision. Box Score
Rod Carew returns to Minnesota as a visiting Angel by Robert Tholkes
1975 – No game today, Twins versus California Angels game at Met Stadium postponed due to rain and rescheduled as part of July 1 DH.
1972 – No game today, scheduled day off.
1970 – After two games in Anaheim the Twins moved on to Oakland for three games. Jim Kaat and Catfish Hunter went at it in game one but it wasn’t Kaat’s day as he was gone after giving up 8 hits, and 3 runs in just 3.1 innings. Reliever Steve barber didn’t fare much better and the Twins found themselves down 5-2 after five aand that would be the final score. Tony Oliva had put the Twins up 2-0 with a home run in the first but that was all the runs the A’s Catfish would allow on this day. Hunter (2-1) got the win and Kaat (1-1) the defeat. Attendance 9,186. Box Score
1969 – No Game Today
1968 – The Twins play the Washington Senators in their 1968 Home Opener at Met Stadium as 22,926 look on during a nice Spring 62 degree day. Dick Bosman starts for Washington and Jim Merritt gets the honor for the Twins. The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the first inning on a two-run home run from Harmon Killebrew and and kept adding on from there. The Twins put an explanation point on the scoring in the eighth inning with a seven spot making it 13 to 1 and that stood up for the Twins sixth win in a row to start the season. Merritt (2-0) got the win with a complete game allowing the one run on 6 hits. The Twins had 16 hits, seven of which went for extra bases. In addition to Killebrew (3), Cesar Tovar (1) and Jackie Hernandez (1) hit home runs. It was a fun way to spend 2 hours and 36 minutes of your day. Box Score
1965 – Hopefully the 4,492 fans were paying attention because lefty Jim Kaat (1-0) made quick work of the visiting Cleveland Indians as he pitched a complete game 3-0 shutout allowing 7 hits and one walk with no strikeouts. The game was over in just 2 hours and 9 minutes. Bob Allison led the Twins attack with 2 hits including his first home run of the season. Jimmie Hall had a triple and RBI and Zoilo Versalles had a double. Dick Donovan started and took the loss for Cleveland. Box Score
1961 – No Game Today. An April snowstorm dropped 8″ of snow and 30 MPH winds made for slower than expected ticket sales for the Minnesota Twins first ever home baseball game that is just four days away at Met Stadium.
1953 – Two years to the day since his MLB debut – on April 17, 1953 – future Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle hit one of the furthest recorded home runs in history. It was that day when the term “tape-measure home run” was born, as one of the game’s best power hitters hit a colossal 565-foot shot out of Griffith Stadium. It was the top of the fifth and the Yankees were leading the Senators 2-1 on a windy day in Washington. Yogi Berra had just walked, leaving it up to the 21-year old Mantle to extend the inning. After borrowing a teammate’s bat, the switch-hitter stepped into the box from the right side facing the left-handed Chuck Stobbs. Mantle received a chest-high fastball from Stobbs, crushing his delivery into left field. Check out the link for the rest of the story.
