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2023 – The Twins beat the Pirates and Andre Jackson at Target Field by a score of 5-1. Pablo López was the starter, pitching 6 shutout innings, with six hits allowed, two walks and seven strikeouts. Pablo extended his scoreless inning streak to a career-long 19.0 innings. Twins pitchers held the Pirates to a 1-for-14 clip with runners in scoring position. The offense recorded 10 hits, giving them double-digit hits for the second-straight game and fourth time in their last five games. Donovan Solano and Christian Vázquez each had two hits, while Michael A. Taylor hit his 16th home run and drove in two. With Taylor’s home run, the Twins ninth-place hitter’s have hit 20 home runs this season, a franchise record. Box Score
2022 – No game today, schedule day off.
2021 – The Twins beat the Indians yesterday afternoon at Target Field by a score of 8-7 in 11 innings, winning their fourth-consecutive series and completing a season-long homestand with a 6-3 record. The Twins improved to 10-10 in extra-inning games this season, going 10-2 in their last 12 after beginning the season 0-8 in extras. Lewis Thorpe (1.1 IP) was the starter but did not factor into the decision, exiting the game in the second inning after experiencing pain in his left shoulder. The Twins used seven relievers, who combined to allow five runs on six hits in 9.2 innings pitched. Danny Coulombe (3-1) who pitched the 11th inning got the win, no Twins pitcher pitched more that 1.2 innings. The offense recorded 10 hits, two from both Jorge Polanco and Miguel Sanó. Sanó hit his 20th home run of the season, a 475-foot shot which marked the longest for a Twin this season. Polanco drove in the walk-off game-winner with a single in the 11th. Polanco has produced a walk-off RBI in each of Minnesota’s last three wins. Since RBI became an official stat in 1920, only two other players had a walk-off RBI in three-straight team wins during the regular season: George Scott of the Brewers from August 11-14, 1973 and Tony Peña of the Pirates from June 2-6, 1982. This happened one time in the postseason (since 1920): David Ortiz had a three-game streak for Boston in the 2004 postseason. The Twins are now off to New York and then to Boston. Box Score
2020 – What a game at Target Field today and sadly for everyone concerned there were no fans in attendance to witness the action. The Twins were playing the Milwaukee Brewers in game one of a three game series and the starters were Kenta Maeda for Minnesota and Corbin Burnes for Milwaukee. Neither team had a hit until the Twins Luis Arraez doubled to start the bottom of the fifth inning and Miguel Sano followed with another double to push across the games first run. Meanwhile; with one out in the third Maeda had started a consecutive strikeout spree like no other in Twins history by striking out Eric Sogard, Avisail Garcia. In the fourth he ko’d Christian Yelich, Keston Hiura, and Justin Smoak. In the fifth Ryan Braun, Omar Narvaez and Ben Gamel all went down swinging and a new Twins consecutive strikeout record (eight in a row) had been set breaking the old mark of seven in a row by Jim Merritt (LHP) on July 21, 1966 and Francisco Liriano (LHP) on June 11, 2020. Maeda had the Brewers until total control, after his walk of Yelich in the first inning and before his second walk of the game to Narvaez in the eighth inning Maeda retired 21 straing batters. The Twins added on a second run in the seventh inning on a Jorge Polanco single and in the eighth they added on a third run to make it 3-0 after eight innings. The only question was if Maeda would continue his quest for the no-hitter after having thrown 113 pitches through the first eight innings. He did but unfortunately on his second (#115) pitch, Eric Sogard blooped a single over second base that was just out of the reach of Polanco (who seemed to get turned around a bit on the play) and it dropped in for a clean single breaking up Maeda’s no-hitter and that was it for Maeda. Twins manager brought in closer Taylor Rogers but at this point things went south quickly. Garcia greeted Rogers with a double and all of a sudden the Brewers had runners at second and third with no outs, Yelich walked loading the bases and Hiura singled bringing in the Brewers first run but the bases were still loaded with no outs. Jedd Gyrko pinch-hit for Smoak and grounded into what should have been a doubleplay, but instead Ildemaro Vargas’ (who replaced Arraez when the inning started) throw to first was off the mark for an error and two runs crossed the plate knotting the score at 3-3. Rogers struck out the next two batters but it was too little too late. A half inning that will live in infamy, a no-hitter lost, a shutout lost and now the game is at stake too. Maeda had never gone more than 8.1 innings in a MLB game and that streak continues. The error by Vargas was only the third Twins error of the season but it was a costly one. Now the Twins had to try to win a game playing under the new MLB rules for extra inning games for the first time, starting the inning with a runner on second. Caleb Thielbar pitched the tenth inning for the Twins and retired the Brewers 1-2-3. The Twins faced Josh Hader in the bottom of the tenth and he kept the Twins off the board, but in the process Twins first baseman Marwin Gonzalez was ejected for arguing a called third strike and that posed a problem for Baldelli who was out of first baseman since Gonzalez had replaced Sano earlier for defensive purposes. Garver who has played first base just ten times took over at first base and was the last position player the Twins had on the bench. Jorge Alcala kept the Brewers from scoring in the 11th and 12th innings and in the bottom of the 12th the Twins pushed the winning run across as Byron Buxton started the inning at second base, Alex Avila grounded out to first allowing Buxton to move to third. With a five-man infield facing him Max Kepler was hit by a pitch on a 3-2 count putting runners at the corners. Polanco then hit a slow grounder to second that was fielded by Hiura but his throw to the plate was too late to catch the speeding Buxton who scored the winning run in the Twins 4-3 win over the Brew crew. Other oddities in the game? The Twins stole three bases in this game, they had stolen just three bases in their previous 23 games this season. Twins lead-off hitter Kepler had an odd day too going 0 for 3 with 6 PA’s but reached base four times, K-WP, two bases on balls and a HBP. Plus, Kepler also chipped in with two stolen bases. You want more? Milwaukee gave up its DH when Ryan Braun wet to RF in the tenth inning. Still more? Buxton grounded into doubleplays in consecutive AB’s in the eighth and eleventh innings. How about this one? Only two hitters batted for the Twins in the 11th as Vargas who started the inning on second base under the new extra-inning was thrown out on Ehire Adrianza’s fielder’s choice grounder to third by Gyorko. Buxton then grounded into his second inning-ending double play. It was an incredible first MLB win for Jorge Alcala in his seventh major league game. David Phelps (2-2) took the loss for the Brewers. There were just four hits by the Brewers and five by the Twins with Miguel Sano being the only player in the games to get two or more hits with his two doubles. The win was the Twins third walk-off win of the season and the 12 inning game was the longest of the year in terms of innings played and in term of time lasting 4 hours and 28 minutes. The game marked the first time in Twins history (since 1961) that the Twins had five hits-or fewer in a game of at least 12 innings and won. The last time the franchise did it was when the Washington Senators did it on July 2, 1948 (5 hits in a 2-1, 12-inning win at Yankee Stadium. Box Score
2019 – The Twins beat the Rangers on a hot Sunday afternoon by a score of 6-3 in their final game at Globe Life Park. Since the ballpark opened in 1994, the Twins have gone 57-65 at the facility, including wins in 11 of their last 15 games. The win marked the first time in club history that the Twins have swept the Rangers in Texas in a four-game series. Martín Pérez (9-5) was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing two runs on five hits in 5 innings pitched. Sam Dyson got his first win in a Twins uniform and Taylor Rogers earned his 19th save with a scoreless ninth inning. It was one of those rare games when the Twins hit no home runs (Bomba’s) but they did have four doubles and a triple. The temperature for first pitch was 95 degrees but rose to 99 by the third inning but never reached 100. According to the Twins, they have played seven games in 100 degree heat over the past 25 years and they all came in this ball park. Max Kepler left the game in the sixth inning with “heat illness” after playing centerfield in the hot sun. Box Score
2018 – Rookie Kohl Stewart’s second big league start did not go well. Stewart lasted just 2.2 innings and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits, 4 walks while striking out 2 Tigers. This time the Tigers were out hit 11 to 6 but came up winners at Target Field by a score of 7 to 5. The Twins hit four home runs (Joe Mauer, Tyler Austin, Miguel Sano) but all but one (Mitch Garver) were with the bases empty. Mauer and Austin had three hits each. Stewart avoided taking the loss that went to Tyler Duffey. Box Score
2003 – No game today, scheduled day off.
1997 – No game today, scheduled day off. But, the Twins fine themselves in New Britain, Connecticut playing their farm team and not only do the Twins get beat, they get shut out 3-0. A capacity crowd of 6,146 watched the first exhibition game by a major league team in Connecticut since August 1948. So far no luck finding a box score.
1986 – Tom Seaver, pitching for the Boston Red Sox wins the 311th and final game of his Hall of Fame career in a 3-1 win over Minnesota in the Metrodome. Seaver pitches 3 hit ball over 8 2/3 innings and strikes out seven. Frank Viola went the distance for Minnesota and the game was a 1-1 pitchers duel until Red Sox catcher Rick Gedman hit a two-run home run off Viola with one out in the top of the ninth. DH Roy Smalley‘s home run accounted for the Twins only run of the game. Box Score
Tom Seaver strikes out 7 in his last major-league win by David Krell
1980 – A scheduled day off but the Twins played the California Angels to make up a rain-out on August 16th. It seem that neither team wanted this game played but MLB said it it should be played and you can read more about it in the PDF below. Both teams are under .500 and out of the running. In spite of that, the Twins ended up beating the Angels at the Met by a 8-3 score behind the pitching of starter of Fernando Arroyo (3-5) who pitched 8.2 innings but needed relief help for the final out. Arroyo allowed 3 runs on 8 hits. John Castino (10) and Bombo Rivera (2) each hit a home run and Jose M. Morales had three hits. Because of the short time period to sell tickets from the rain-out date and the fact that both teams have poor records, the attendance was 2,508. Box Score
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1970 – Jim Holt pinch-hits for Tommy Hall and hits a walk-off two-run single with one out in the ninth inning to give the Twins an 8-7 win over the Yankees at Met Stadium. Tommy Hall, the fifth Twins pitcher of the day got the win with 3 innings of hitless relief facing only 9 Yankee hitters and striking out three. Tony Oliva was 3 for 5 with 3 RBI and Danny Thompson was 3 for 5 with 2 RBI. Lindy McDaniel took the loss for the Yanks. Box Score
1967 – The Yankees score a run in the bottom of the first inning and Steve Barber makes it stand-up for a 1-0 Yankee win over the Twins at Yankee Stadium I. Barber allowed 6 hits and 5 walks but still pitched a complete game shutout. This was a replay game for the July 25 game that ended in a 1-1 tie due to rain. Twins pitcher Jim Kaat pitched a complete game in both cases allowing a run in each game and all he had to show for it was a loss. Both games were counted in the standings. Box Score
In the regularly scheduled game the Twins trailed the Yankees 3-2 going into the top of the ninth. Ted Uhlaender led off with a single and Cal Ermer called on PH Rich Reese who delivered with a home run off Fred Talbot and closer Al Worthington closed the door for a dramatic Twins 4-3 win in game two. Jim Merritt went 7.1 innings and allowed just 2 runs but got a ND for his work. Box Score
1966 – The Twins turn their first ever triple play in the second inning of a game against the Angels. Frank Malzone was the unlucky hitter when Rollins–Tovar–Killebrew turned the play at the Met. Malzone also hit in to a double play later.The Twins beat the Angels 6-2 and out hit them 10 to 4. Cesar Tovar was 3 for 5 with two stolen bases and 3 RBI. Mudcat Grant who almost didn’t get out of the second inning went the distance for the win. There is an interesting blurb in the paper about how the Mudcat claimed he wasn’t warmed up properly before the game started and why. Box Score
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1965 – No Game Today
1961 – The Twins start a short two city six game road-trip to Los Angeles and Chicago. First stop is Wrigley Field (in LA) to play the seventh place Los Angeles Angels who are one game ahead of the Twins in the AL standings. Eli Grba, a bespeckled right-hander who hasn’t won a game since June 6 faces off against the Twins Camilo Pascual. Only 4,178 fans show up at Wrigley to watch the Angels erase a 1-0 Twins lead as they score four times in the third inning when Pascual allows four singles and two walks. Pascual gives up a home run to Joe Koppe in the fourth and Grba has all the runs he needs as he pitches a complete game striking out 10 and allowing 2 runs, none earned on 4 hits and 4 walks and grabbing the elusive sixth win of the season as the Angels beat Minnesota 5-2. Pascual took the loss dropping his record to 10-13. Bill Tuttle had half of the Twins four hits including a double and both of the Twins RBI. Box Score
