May 31 – This Day in Twins History

(click on images once or twice to make them larger)

 

2023 – The Twins beat the Astros at Minute Maid Park in front of a great crowd of 37,127 by a score of 8-2, winning their eighth series of the season (8-9-1), including their second on the road (2-6-1), first since opening the season with a three-game sweep at Kansas City. Louie Varland (3-1) was the starter and winner, pitching 7 shutout innings (86 pitches), with four hits allowed, one walk and five strikeouts. The offense recorded 11 hits, walked five times and struck out 14 times. Donovan Solano went 2-for-4 with four RBI and drove in the first two runs with a bases-loaded single, snapping an 0-for-14 stretch for the Twins with the bases full. Ryan Jeffers later drove in two runs with a bases-loaded ground rule double. The Twins are now hitting .143 with the bases loaded (7 for 49) with the two hits today. Hunter Brown (4-2) took the loss for Houston. The Twins now fly home for a four-game series against the Cleveland Guardians. The Twins (29-27) finished May with a 12-15 record.  Box Score

Louie Varland

 

Donovan Solano
Ryan Jeffers

 

 

 

 

 

2022 – Let’s play two! The first-place Twins beat the Tigers in game one of the doubleheader at Comerica Park by a score of 8-2, but were shut out 4-0 in game two. Devin Smeltzer (2-0) was the starter and winner in game one, allowing two runs on six hits in 6.2 innings (101 pitches) pitched, with no walks and four strikeouts. Max Kepler went 3-for-4 and drove in three runs in the first game. Gary Sanchez hit his sixth home run in a four-run third inning. Box Score game one

Devin Smeltzer
Max Kepler
Gary Sanchez

 

 

 

 

 

In game two, Cole Sands (0-1) served as the club’s 27th man and made the start, allowing four runs on five hits in 4 innings pitched and was dealt the loss. the offense recorded just three hits and were shutout for the sixth time this season. Jermaine Palacios, who made his major league debut in game one, also started in game two and recorded his first major league hit, singling off Joey Wentz in the third inning.The Twins finished May with a record of 18-12, the third-most wins in the AL and fifth-most in baseball. 18 wins were their most in a single month since going 18-9 in September of 2019. It marked their most wins in May since going 21-8 in 2019. The first place Twins finish May with a 30-21 record and have a 2.5 game lead on the White Sox and 3.5 game lead on the Guardians with the Tigers and Royals trailing the pack. Box Score game two

Jermaine Palacios
Cole Sands

 

 

 

 

 

2021 – The Twins beat the Orioles at Camden Yards by a score of 3-2 in 10 innings, making the Twins 2-8 in extra frames this season. José Berríos was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing one run on five hits and no walks in a season-high 8 innings pitched while throwing 101 pitches. The offense recorded seven hits, two from Andrelton Simmons and three from Josh Donaldson, who doubled twice. Jorge Polanco hit a solo homer in the 10th inning, his first career extra-inning home run. Taylor Rogers (2-2) got the win and Hansel Robles got save number four. Since the start of 2018, the Twins are 16-1 versus the Orioles. Their last loss came on Opening Day 2018 as Adam Jones hit a walk-off homer off Fernando Rodney in the 11th inning. Since that game, their 16-game winning streak is the longest active streak against any opponent. The Twins longest winning streak is 17 games against the Boston Red Sox in 1965-1966. Box Score

Jose Berrios
Josh Donaldson
Jorge Polanco

 

 

 

 

 

2020 – The Twins are in the Windy City to take on the Chicago White Sox and that would be fun except that all the games this season had not been postponed/cancelled due to COVID-19. We have now missed 60 games. Holy crap, that is a lot of games.

2019 – The Twins fall behind early 3-1 but come back to score the last four runs of the game and win the game 5-3. Jose Berrios (7-2) wasn’t at his best but still pitched 6.2 innings and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks while whiffing 8 batters. Eddie Rosario broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run single in the top of the ninth. Twins went homer-less for the second straight game. Taylor Rogers (2-1) got the win with 2.1 scoreless innings of relief. Jorge Polanco scored three times and had two hits while Jonathan Schoop scored twice on his two hits. The 2019 Twins seem to be picking up the nickname “BOMBASQUAD”.  Box Score

Taylor Rogers
Jose Berrios and Eddie Rosario
Jorge Polanco – credit Rick Osentoski
Jonathan Schoop

2018 –  The Twins fall behind 8-0 after just four innings but fight back to tie the game at 8 to 8 only to have Francisco Lindor hit a home run off Addison Reed in the eighth inning to  propel the Indians to a 9-8 win over Minnesota at Target Field. Jake Odorizzi was the starter allowing eight runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings pitched but the Twins offense saved his butt from the loss. Miguel Sanó, Logan Morrison and Eduardo Escobar all hit home runs but it still was not enough. Box Score

Miguel Sano
Logan Morrison
Escobar
Tyler Duffey

 

 

 

 

 

 

2007 – No game today, scheduled day off.

1980 – A bad day at the ballpark for Twins fans. The Twins commit five errors on their way to an 11-1 shellacking at the hands of the Orioles and their starter Scott McGregor who pitches a complete game at Met Stadium in front of only 8,288 fans. The Twins loss is their 21st in their last 30 games putting them 11 games under the .500 mark. The Twins scored their only run in the second inning on a Hosken Powell double and an O’s error. Geoff Zahn was the Twins starter and loser. Outfielder Ken Landreaux goes 0-for-4 in Minnesota’s 11-1 loss to the Orioles Scott McGregor, ending his hitting streak at 31 consecutive games. It is the longest streak in the AL since Dom DiMaggio’s 34-game streak in 1949. Ken’s streak started on April 23rd. Landreaux had 49 hits in 125 at bats during the streak for a .392 batting average. This streak remains the team record. Box Score

Ken Landreaux
Hosken Powell

 

Hitting Streak

 

 

 

1978No game today, scheduled day off.

1976 – With trade rumors running rampant due to how poorly salary negotiations had progressed, Bert Blyleven walked off the mound at the Met in front of 8,379 fans trailing the California Angels 3-1. A number of fans were on Blylevens’ case shouting and singing “bye-bye Bertie” and Blyleven angrily looked up at the hecklers and flashed them the “one finger salute”. That was the final straw for Twins management and Bert was traded to Texas the next day. Rod Carew and Bob Randall each had two hits for Minnesota and Blyleven pitched a complete game but allowed three runs and was the loser. Box Score

Bert Blyleven
Rod Carew
Bob Randall

 

 

 

 

 

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Star_Tribune_Tue__Jun_1__1976_ (1)

1969 – The Twins broke out of their hitting slump and bombed the Red Sox 10 to 4.  Seven Twins players had at least one RBI and Killebrew had two. The hit parade was led by Tony Oliva and John Roseboro who had three each. Rookie starter Dick Woodson was the happy recipient of the ten runs and went eight innings before turning it over to Perranoski to finish up. Woodson had to work for his win however; as he gave up 8 hits, 4 walks and threw a Twins starter season high 141 pitches on a warm 83 degree day. The Twins finished the first two months of the season with a 25-19 record and a two game  lead in the AL West. Box Score

John Roseboro
Dick Woodson
Tony Oliva

 

 

 

 

 

1962No Twins game, scheduled day off.

1961 Twins vs Indians game in Cleveland was rained out and rescheduled for July 13. The 19-24 Twins find themselves in 7th place today, 9 games behind the AL leading Detroit Tigers. The Twins record in May goes in the books as 10-18.

 

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