(click on images once or twice to make them larger)
2023 – The Twins beat the Angels Sunday afternoon by a score of 9-3 at Target Field. Joe Ryan (11-10) was the starter and winner, allowing three runs on seven hits in 6 innings pitched, with no walks and 10 strikeouts; marking the sixth time this season that he has reached double-digit strikeouts. After a 50-minute rain delay, the offense scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, including two-run home runs by Max Kepler (23) and Ryan Jeffers (12). Kepler, Jeffers and Matt Wallner each had two of Minnesota’s 10 hits. The rain delay was the fifth weather delay of the season but the first mid-game delay (6th game affected by weather). Chris Paddack had entered the game in relief of Ryan in the top of the seventh inning for his 2023 debut but did not throw a pitch and was relieved by Louie Varland. The 1,477 strikeout by Twins pitchers this season is a franchise record. Box Score
2022 – The Twins snap their most recent losing skid as they beat the Angels at Target Field by a score of 8-4. Joe Ryan was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing three runs on four hits in 4 innings pitched. Ryan struck out five batters, moving himself within one of tying Francisco Liriano (144 – 2006) for first on the club’s all-time single-season rookie strikeout list. The bullpen was exceptional as they combined to pitch 5 innings with just one run allowed on three hits. The offense recorded 11 hits, including three apiece from Jose Miranda and Gio Urshela. Gary Sánchez hit his 15th home run and drove in four runs. Box Score
2021 – The Twins won their fourth in a row when they beat the Blue Jays at Target Field by a score of 3-1 in a snappy 2 hours and 38 minutes in front of a crowd of 18,861. Rookie Bailey Ober (3-3) was the starter and winner, allowing one run on four hits in 5.1 innings pitched, with no walks and six strikeouts. Jorge Alcala (0.2 IP), Juan Minaya (1.0 IP), Tyler Duffey (1.0 IP) and Alexander Colomé (1.0 IP) combined for 3.2 scoreless innings of relief. The offense recorded six hits, two from Luis Arraez, who hit his team-leading sixth triple of the season. Byron Buxton hit his 15th home run of the season, one shy of his career-high of 16, done in 2017. The losing pitcher for Toronto was Jose Berrios (12-9) who allowed all three runs on 5 hits in 6 innings while striking out 10 Twins.
2020 – No game today, a scheduled day off.
2019 – The Twins start their final road-trip of the season with a 4-2 win over the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park and up their record to 97-60. Jake Odorizzi (15-7) was the starter and winner, allowing one run on two hits over 6 innings pitched, becoming the first Twins pitcher with 15-or-more wins since Ervin Santana (16) in 2017. Kyle Gibson threw two innings of relief, followed by Taylor Rogers, who nailed down his 29th save. The offense had just eight hits and used four of them in the seventh inning to score all four of their runs. Willians Astudillo and Eddie Rosario had two-RBI hits in the inning. With the win, the Twins are 14-8 with 27 scheduled September games, giving the Twins all six winning months this season. The only other times in their history (since 1961) to win all six months were 2002 and 1965. Did I mention that the magic number is 2 to clinch? Box Score
2018 – No Game Today
2017 – The Twins beat the Tigers on a Sunday afternoon by a score of 10-4 for the second straight game. It marked their first four-game sweep of Detroit since September 10-13, 2004. Twins starter José Berríos (13-8) was the starter and winner. The offense recorded 12 hits, giving them double-digit hit totals for the fourth straight game. Jorge Polanco (12) and Eduardo Escobar (20) each homered. According to Elias, the Twins out-scored the Tigers 39–12 in the series. On only one other occasion since moving to Minnesota in 1961, the Twins swept a four-game series with that high a scoring margin: they outscored the Boston Red Sox 33–6 in a four game sweep at Fenway Park, July 18–21, 1991. Box Score
2014 – The Twins and Phil Hughes beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 at Target Field in the final 2014 Twins home game. Twins starter Phil Hughes set a single-season major league record for strikeout-to-walk ratio, pitching eight strong innings for the Minnesota Twins in the 2-1 victory. Hughes (16-10) finished his first year with the Twins with the same number of wins and walks. With 186 strikeouts, his 11.63 ratio became the best of all time for pitchers with a qualifying amount of innings. Hughes topped Bret Saberhagen, who had 143 strikeouts and 13 walks for the New York Mets in 1994 for an 11.00 ratio. A 66 minute rain delay after the 8th inning prevented Hughes from pitching a complete game. In the sixth inning, Twins third baseman Trevor Plouffe left the game with a broken left forearm. He was struck by A.J. Pollock’s knee during an attempted tag as Pollock slid into third base. The Twins had just four hits in the game and Danny Santana had three of them. The Twins scored their runs on a sac fly and a bases loaded walk while the D-Backs scored their lone run on a sac fly. Box Score
Former Twins manager Tom Kelly suffers what is termed as a mild stroke and spends several days in the hospital.
2009 – No Game today, scheduled day off.
2004 – Johan Santana beats Cleveland 8-2 at Jacobs Field and become the first Venezuelan pitcher to win 20 games or more. It was a very good day for Johan, he also set a new team record win 13 consecutive wins and he set a new team strikeout record when he broke Bert Blyleven’s previous team record. Lew Ford went 3 for 5 with a double (his 30th of the season) and 3 RBI and Jacque Jones was 2 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBI. Box Score
2003 – The Twins beat the Cleveland Indians 3-2 at the Metrodome and Twins reliever Jesse Orosco gets his last major league victory in his 24 year big league career and in the process becomes the oldest pitcher to win a major league game wearing a Minnesota Twins uniform. However; in 2017 Bartolo Colon won five games for Minnesota at the age of 44 and took that honor away from Orosco. Lew Ford was 2 for 4 with a home run and a triple and two RBI but it was third baseman Michael Cuddyer’s home run in the eighth inning that proved to be the winning blow. Eddie Guardado notched his 41st and final save of the season. Box Score
1979 – No game today, scheduled day off.
1976 – No game today, scheduled day off.
1971 – No game today. Twins versus the Kansas City Royals game at Municipal Stadium was rained out and rescheduled for tomorrow as part of a DH.
1967 – In front of a Sunday Met Stadium crowd of 42,184 Dean Chance pitches another complete game, winning his 20th game of the season as the Twins beat the Yankees 9-4 behind home runs by Harmon Killebrew who had three hits and Bob Allison who had 3 RBI. Twins hitters jumped on Yankee starter Steve Barber for six hits and seven runs in 1.1 innings. How I miss those days. Twins win number 90. Box Score
1962 – No Game Today, scheduled day off.
1961 – The Washington Senators Dick Donovan pitches a one hitter against the Twins at Met Stadium for a 4-1 Senators win. The lone Twins hit is a 7th inning home run by outfielder Joe Altobelli. It was Altobelli’s third and final home run as a Twins player and the final home run of his big league career. Jim Kaat was the loser for the Twins going 6 innings and allowing three runs, now days that would be a quality start. Box Score
