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2023 – SONNY FINALLY GETS THE W: The Twins beat the Cardinals last night in St. Louis by a score of 5-3, scoring four runs in the second inning. Sonny Gray (5-4) was the starter and winner, allowing two runs on five hits in 7 innings pitched, with no walks and eight strikeouts. It marked Gray’s first win since April 30 vs. Kansas City. That is a long time between wins for an All-Star pitcher. Griffin Jax earned his 16th hold with a scoreless eighth and Jhoan Duran earned his 19th save. The offense recorded seven hits, two from Donovan Solano. Ryan Jeffers hit his sixth home run and Michael A. Taylor hit his 13th home run, both two-run shots in the second inning. The victory made the the Twins 16-15-4 in series play on the season and 7-9-2 in road series. After completing their six-game roadtrip with a record of 2-4 (0-3 in Kansas City and 2-1 in St. Louis), the Twins head home to begin their three-game homestand. Box Score
Behind the scenes Twins starter Joe Ryan fessed up that he pulled his groin stretching before a game in Atlanta at the end of June, but didn’t inform the Twins train staff until after his last start. I was trying to do it on my own Ryan said. The Twins put him on the IL.
2022 – The Twins beat the Tigers at Target Field by a score of 4-1, winning the series, marking their 16th series victory this season (16-12-5). Joe Ryan (8-4) was the starter and winner, allowing one run on three hits in 5 innings pitched, with no walks and a season-high-tying nine strikeouts. Michael Fulmer and Jorge López each made their Twins debuts as Fulmer earned his 19th hold with a scoreless sixth inning and López earned his 20th save with a scoreless ninth on seven pitches. The offense recorded seven hits as Sandy León made his Twins debut by going 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Bring on the Blue Jays! Box Score
2021 – The Twins beat the Reds 7-5 at Great American Ball Park, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth. Kenta Maeda was the starter but took a ND for his work after allowing five runs on seven hits in five innings pitched and left the game trailing 5 to 4. The offense recorded nine hits, Mitch Garver hit his 12th home run and Jorge Polanco hit his 17th, a game-winning three-run shot in the top of the ninth inning. The game marked only the second time this season that the Twins have won when trailing after eight innings. Danny Coulombe (2-1) picked up the win and Alex Colome (3) picked up the save, his first in the last 61 games after pitching horribly this season. Box Score
2020 – The Twins trail 4-0 after Twins starter Lewis Thorpe goes four innings giving up three runs on six hits and four walks while striking out three. The Twins tied the game at 4-4 in the sixth inning on some “poor” play in the field by the Pirates and their pitchers giving up two hits, five walks and a WP. The Twins started the ninth with a Jorge Polanco single and then he advanced to second on a passed ball to Mitch Garver who eventually walked to put runners at first and second. A lineout to right field by Luis Arraez advanced both runners with Nelson Cruz coming to the plate. Pirates skipper and 2019 Twins bench coach Derek Shelton chose to pitch to Cruz and paid dearly for it when Cruz hit a walk-off single to deep center scoring Polanco with the winning run in the 5-4 Twins win. It was the Twins, now 8-2, first walk-off win of the season. Taylor Rogers (1-0) was credited with the win. Crux and Max Kepler each had 3 hits in the game. The 8-2 start is the fourth time that Minnesota has won 8 of its first 10 games to start a season. The 1961, 1970, and 2001 Twins team did it before the 2020 Twins joined the group. The Washington Senators won 8 of their first 10 games just once in 60 seasons and that was in 1930. Box Score
2019 – The start of the game was delayed by 1 hour and 22 minutes due to inclement weather and the Hall of Fame celebration but it was worth the wait. The Twins then put a serious beating on the Royals at Target Field as they score 11 runs against them for the second day in a row in a 11-3 win on the same day as they induct former closer Joe Nathan into the Twins Hall of Fame. Starter Kyle Gibson (11-4) got the win when he went 6.2 innings allowing just 4 hits and 3 runs (2 earned). Cody Stashak pitched 2 scoreless innings to finish the game. 36,823 fans saw Nelson Cruz go 3 for 5 with 3 home runs for the second time in 9 days. Cruz joins Jason Kubel (2009) as the only two players in club history with four five+ RBI games in a season. Jorge Polanco and CJ Cron (just off the IL) also hit home runs. Box Score
2018 – The Twins beat the Royals by a score of 6-4 at Target Field on a stormy night in Minneapolis. Jake Odorizzi was the starter but did not factor into the decision, having to exit the game early due to weather, the game experienced two rain delays, one in the top of the fourth inning that was one hour and 31 minutes and one in the bottom of the sixth that lasted 53 minutes. Miguel Sanó put together another all-around effort as the Twins outlasted the Kansas City Royals. Sanó doubled in two runs and finished 2-for-4 while also turning in a dazzling play. Sanó has hit safely in four straight games after going hitless in his first two upon returning from an extended stay in the minor leagues. He’s 6-for-13 in the four games. Sanó also legged out an infield single in the fifth inning with Statcast noting his sprint speed was 28.8 feet per second, well above the league average of 27. But Molitor was even more impressed with Sanó’s defensive play to end the fifth inning, which featured a diving stop and a great scoop by Mauer at first. Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario also had two hits each. Reliever Gabriel Moya was credited with his first big league victory in his 18th big league game. Box Score
2014 – The Twins lead the White Sox 4 to 3 after seven innings at Cellular Field and then score 9 runs in the 8th inning to take a 13-3 lead but the fireworks is not over. In the ninth inning they score 3 more on back to back to back home runs by Chris Parmelee, Oswaldo Arcia and Eric Fryer and win the game 16-3. The Twins get 23 hits and leading the hit parade is outfielder Danny Santana with a 5 for 6 day with a triple, double, two stolen bases, and 4 RBI. Twins starter Kyle Gibson gets the victory. Box Score
2009 – No Game today, scheduled day off.
2007 – The Twins lose to the Indians 5-2 at the Metrodome as C.C. Sabathia beats Johan Santana. Grady Sizemore had a big day for Cleveland going 3 for 5 with a home run, stolen base and 4 RBI. Some of the 31,664 fans at the game might argue that 1B Justin Morneau did not earn his pay in today’s game. Morneau went 0 for 4 and hit into a double play and even though he played first base the entire game, he did not record a single put out. Morneau is the first to accomplish this rare feat in franchise history. Box Score
2004 – Carlos Silva pitches a complete game and shuts out the Angels 10-0 in just 2 hours and 15 minutes at the Metrodome using 99 pitches and allows 11 hits and 2 walks along the way. Outfielder Shannon Stewart leads the offense by going 3 for 4 with 2 RBI. Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter, Corey Koskie and Henry Blanco all hit a long ball for Minnesota. Box Score.
The Minnesota Twins and Lee County announced today that the parties have extended the Lee County Sports Complex lease agreement which maintains the baseball team’s spring training operations in Fort Myers, Fla., through 2020.
1999 – The Twins fall behind early at the Ballpark in Arlington and never catch up losing 9 to 5. Second baseman Todd Walker was 4 for 4 with a double and a RBI and shortstop Cristian Guzman was 3 for 4 with 2 RBI. Benj Sampson was the Twins starter but he lasted just an inning after giving up 6 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks and took the loss. Box Score
The Astros and Twins swap catchers, Houston gets George Williams and Minnesota gets Josh Dimmick. Dimmick never got above “A” ball.
1998 – No game today, scheduled day off.
1991 – The first place Twins were playing game four on a long road trip that took them to New York, Oakland, Anaheim and Seattle. The Twins were playing the Oakland A’s in Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and David West was their starter against the A’s Joe Slusarski. Slusarski was keeping the Twins in check while West gave up solo home runs to Dave Henderson in the first, third and fifth innings and another solo blast to Mark McGwire in the sixth and with the Twins down 4-0, Twins manager Tom Kelly said “nuf is nuf” and called for Steve Bedrosian. Bedrosian proceeded to give up a home run to Jose Canseco in the seventh inning and the Twins found themselves in a 5-0 hole and on the verge of losing their third straight game. But in the top of the eighth inning the Twins bats came to life against Slusarski and they scored seven times on five hits, one of which was a three-run home run by Brian Harper and took a 7-5 lead. In the bottom of the eighth inning Harold Baines pinch-hit for Mike Bordick and hit the A’s sixth solo home run of the day, this time off Twins reliever Mark Guthrie making it a 7-6 game with the Twins up by just one run. In the top of the ninth Shane Mack hit a solo home run for the Twins giving them a 8-6 lead. Rick Aguilera was brought in to close things out and he did just that and the Twins were 8-6 winners in spite of giving up six solo home runs to the A’s. It was the first time this season that the Twins have come back from a 5-0 deficit. Maybe that is where the old saying of “solo home runs will not hurt you” came from. Bedrosian (4-2) got the win and Aguilera notched save number 28. Joe Klink (8-3) took the loss. Box Score
1987 – One of my favorite moments in Twins history occurs when Twins pitcher Joe Niekro is caught with a fingernail file on the mound at Anaheim Stadium and is ejected by umpire Tim Tschida during the 4th inning of Minnesota’s 11-3 win over California. He was suspended for 10 games by AL president Bobby Brown, who doesn’t buy Niekro’s story “that he had been filing his nails on the bench and stuck the file in his back pocket when the inning started”. Dan Schatzeder relieves Niekro and pitches the final 5.2 innings for the win. Gary Gaetti is the Twins hitting star with a 3 for 5 day with a home run and 5 RBI. On August 14th, Niekro appears on the “Late Night” show with David Letterman wearing a workman’s belt that contains a power sander, nail file, clothes brush, toenail and fingernail clippers, sandpaper, tweezers, scissors, Vaseline, emery boards, and two bottles of Kiwi Scuff Magic. Video of the ejection – Box Score
1981 – The two sides reached an agreement on July 31 to end the 1981 MLB strike, and play resumed on August 9 with the All-Star Game, with regular season play resuming one day later.
1974 – No game today, Twins versus Oakland A’s game at Met Stadium is rained out and rescheduled as part of a DH on August 5.
1969 – Pinch-hitter Rich Reese hit a grand slam to power the Minnesota Twins to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Baltimore Orioles at the Met and ends Dave McNally’s 15 game winning streak. His two victories at the end of 1968 had given him 17 straight wins. Jim Kaat went 7 innings for the win allowing 5 hits. Box Score
1962 – Harmon Killebrew hits a mammoth home run off Tigers pitchers Jim Bunning in the fourth inning at Tiger Stadium and become the first of only four players to hit a home run over the left field roof. The Twins win 7-4 and upped their record to 60-47. The others to hit a homer over the roof were Frank Howard, Mark McGwire, and Cecil Fielder. Twins starter Jack Kralick went the distance for the win striking out 11 Tigers and allowing the four runs on just 3 hits, two of them home runs. Box Score
1961 – 36 year-old Orioles starter Hal “Skinny” Brown and 22 year-old Twins starter Jim “Kitty” Kaat had an old fashioned pitchers duel where both pitched complete games with Brown extending his scoreless streak to 32 innings. The Orioles scored all three of their runs in the eighth inning on one of those “throw the ball all over the ballpark” home runs that was actually a single. Here is the rest of the story. Dick Williams starts the inning off with a walk, Ron Hansen singles and the O’s have runners at first and second. The Twins guessed that Marv Breeding would sacrifice the runners up but he didn’t, instead slapping a single to left past a drawn in infield. Joe Altobelli who had PH earlier was now in left field and tried to thrown out the lead runner at home but threw the ball far and wide of home plate. Kaat, backing up the play caught the ball and they had Breeding nailed dead to rights between first and second but Kaat’s throw to second was wide of its mark and rolled all the way to center field allowing Breeding to circle the bases and the Orioles had a 3-0 lead. Kaat retired the next three Baltimore batters but it was too little too late. Brown retired the Twins 1-2-3 in the ninth and the Twins came out on the short end of a ballgame in which they out-hit the opponents 8 to 5 but lost where it counted 3-0 in the runs column. Kaat’s loss dropped his record to 4-12 and Brown upped his to 9-3. Zoilo Versalles and Lenny Green led the Twins hitting attack with two hits each. A tough loss to swallow but they are now off to visit the Bronx. Box Score
