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2023 – The Twins lost their home season finale to the A’s by a score of 2-1, missing the chance at a three-game sweep. Sonny Gray was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing one run on three hits in 4 innings pitched. Kenta Maeda (6-8) made his first relief appearance of the season and took the loss, allowing one run on one hit in 3.1 innings pitched. Louie Varland also made a relief appearance, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings as Rocco preps pitchers for their possible postseason roles. The offense recorded just four hits and Matt Wallner’s double was the only extra-base hit. The attendance was 19,466, giving Target Field a 2023 total attendance of 1,974,124 coming up short of their goal for 2 million. The Twins finish their final homestand with a 4-2 record and now head for the mountains to close out the season with three games against the Colorado Rockies. Box Score
2022 – The Twins beat the White Sox at Target Field by a score of 8-4, securing the series victory, their 21st of the season (21-22-6) and 15th at home (15-7-4). Josh Winder was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing three runs on six hits in 4.2 innings pitched, with no walks and six strikeouts. Caleb Thielbar (4-2) was the Twins winning pitcher. Johnny Cueto (7-10) took the loss for Chicago.The offense recorded 12 hits, including three apiece from Gio Urshela and Jake Cave. Matt Wallner added two hits, walked once and drove in three runs. Box Score
The Twins have deep, deep roots in the Southwest Florida community, forged by 32 seasons of headquartering their Minor League operations and Spring Training camps in Fort Myers. They watched with great concern as Hurricane Ian made landfall in the Fort Myers area as a Category 4 storm today, causing widespread flooding and destruction still being uncovered in the greater metropolitan area. According to Minnesota president and CEO Dave St. Peter, the current belief is that all affiliated with the Twins are safe and accounted for, with “moderate wind damage” and “limited water damage” sustained at the CenturyLink Sports Complex. He also acknowledged that the “big unknown” would involve a more detailed analysis to determine if the complex, which was constructed in 1991 and renovated in 2015, has sustained any structural damage as a result of the storm. The complex is being used as a staging site for first responders and their equipment.
2021 – The Twins defeated the Tigers at Target Field last by a score of 3-2, winning the first game of their final home series of the season. Charlie Barnes was the starter but did not factor into the decision, working 4 shutout innings, with three hits, three walks and two strikeouts. The Twins offense recorded seven hits, highlighted by Miguel Sanó’s 30th home run of the season. Caleb Thielbar (7-0) earned the win in relief after working a scoreless seventh inning with two strikeouts, while Alex Colomé notched his 17th save. With the win, the Twins improved to 10-7 vs. Detroit this season, clinching the season series for the fifth-consecutive season. After earning his seventh win, Caleb Thielbar is on pace to be the second pitcher in Twins history (since 1961) with at least seven wins, no losses and no starts in a season, alongside Joe Nathan (7-0 in 2006). With his 30th home run of the season last night, Miguel Sanó became the seventh hitter in Twins history to record multiple seasons of 30-plus homers joining Harmon Killebrew (8), Justin Morneau (3), Bob Allison (2), Gary Gaetti (2), Tom Brunansky (2), Brian Dozier (2) and Miguel Sano (2). Byron Buxton stole his eighth base of the season and second in his last three games, his 87.5% career stolen base percentage is tied with Chase Utley for the second highest in MLB history (min. 80 attempts) behind only Alexi Casilla (87.9%). Box Score
2019 – The Twins won game #101 and extended their winning streak to six when they beat the Royals 4-3 on a Nelson Cruz home run (41) in the eighth inning. The Twins won the game but they might have lost even more with the playoffs just a few days off when Luis Arraez was injured in a collision with Willians Astudillo as they both tried to catch a popup near the mound and Arraez fell in obvious pain as he held his right leg. Arraez was driven off the field in a cart and post game x-rays indicated no broken bones but he did suffer a high ankle sprain. The Twins used nine pitchers in this “bullpen” game with no one going more than two innings. Cody Stashak made his first career start, recording two strikeouts giving him 25 on the season making him the first pitcher since 1900 to finish a season with 25 strikeouts and only one walk. Tyler Duffey got the win (5-1) but his scoreless streak of 26 consecutive scoreless appearances (since July 28) over 23 2/3 innings came to an end when he gave up a home run to Jorge Soler. Taylor Rogers got his 30th Save of the season. The Twins had nine hits while Cruz hit the Twins only home run. The Twins win put them 41 games over .500, a season high since the 1965 Twins finished 42 games over the .500 mark. Box Score
In off the field news the Twins announced today that outfielder Trevor Larnach has been named the 2019 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher Randy Dobnak has been named the 2019 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
2018 – The Twins play the Chicago White Sox twice today at Target Field in a split doubleheader. Today’s first game marks a make-up for the April 14 game from the weekend games of April 13-15 when the Twin Cities experienced cold temps and approximately 16 inches of snow accumulation over the 3-4 day period. The Twins going into today’s doubleheader are 481-432 all-time against CWS, their most wins versus any opponent.
In game one we have an old-fashioned pitchers duel between the mighty whities Reynaldo Lopez and the Twins Jose Berrios. Berrios comes up the winner when he goes seven innings allowing one run on 3 hits and 4 walks with 9 strikeouts including KO number 200. José Berríos became the eighth different Twin in club history with 200-plus strikeout (finished with 202), first since Francisco Liriano in 2010 (201). The Twins score their runs on a ground-out and a sac fly. Robbie Grossman and Joe Mauer each get two hits. Trevor May nails down the save. Box Score
In game two the Twins jump on CWS starter Lucas Giolito from the get-go and score 3 in the first, 4 in the second and 3 in the third to take a 10-1 lead and eventually a 12-4 win and their first doubleheader sweep since April 17, 2014 versus Toronto at Target Field. The lucky recipient of all the runs was Chase De Jong who got credit for his first major league victory when he went 6 innings (74 pitches) allowing two runs on four hits. First baseman Mitch Garver had a huge game going 4 for 6 with 2 doubles and 6 RBI. Robbie Grossman chipped in 3 more RBI on two hits. Box Score
2017 – The Twins lose to the Indians at Progressive Field by a score of 5-2. Ervin Santana was the starter but did not factor into the decision, pitching 5 shutout innings with four hits allowed. The offense recorded two hits and was shutout for eight innings, until scoring two runs on a Mitch Garver triple with two outs in the ninth. Max Kepler had two hits in the game. Rookie reliever Trevor Hildenberger took the loss. Box Score
2016 – Kennys Vargas’s two-run homer in the sixth inning of the Twins’ 5-2 loss to the Royals at Kauffman Stadium ended a dubious streak for Minnesota. Entering that inning, the Twins had gone 106 consecutive innings without scoring multiple runs in an inning (dating back to September 15), the longest streak in the majors since the 1942 Phillies had a 109-inning streak of this type from May 23 to June 3. The Phillies finished that season with a record of 42-109 (.278). Only three teams have had a lower winning percentage in a season since then: the 1962 Mets (40-120, .250), 2003 Tigers (43-119, .265), and the 1952 Pirates (42-112, .273). The Twins loss was number 102. Ervin Santana started for Minnesota but it was rookie Taylor Rogers who suffered his first big league loss. Catcher John Ryan Murphy was the only Twins player with more than one hit when he had two doubles. Box Score
2014 – The Tigers showed the Twins how it should be done when they shutout the Twins 3-0 at Comerica Park in front of 40,501 fans to win game number 90 and wrap-up their fourth consecutive division title behind the pitching of David Price (15-12) who got the win and Joe Nathan who recorded save number 35. Kyle Gibson started for Minnesota and did a nice job also giving up just three hits but Ian Kinsler had 3 of the Tigers 4 hits including a home run and 2 RBI white Torii Hunter recorded the other. Gibson (13-12) took the loss with 3 runs and 4 hits allowed in 7.1 innings (88 pitches). No Twins player had more than one hit and Aaron Hicks had the only extra-base hit, a double. The Twins finished with a 70-92 mark, good for last place. The Twins have now finished in last place in the AL Central in 3 of the last 4 seasons and in the other they were fourth. Twins fans are calling for manager Ron Gardenhire’s firing. Twins pitching allowed 777 runs to lead the league. Box Score
2012 – The Twins and infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka are parting ways, as the club granted him his unconditional release today. In a rare and unusual move by a player, Tsuyoshi Nishioka approached the Twins about the release and is walking away from the rest of his contract. He was owed $3 million next season, and the Twins held a $4 million club option for 2014, with a $250,000 buyout. Nishioka, 28, has struggled with the Twins since signing a three-year deal worth $9.25 million after Minnesota won the negotiating rights to sign him with a $5.3 million bid in 2010. It was a disappointing two years for Nishioka, who excelled in Japan. The switch-hitter was a five-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner with the Chiba Lotte Marines before signing with the Twins. Signing Nishioka was one of the Twins biggest blunders in many years.
On the field the Twins have a good day also as they beat the Detroit Tigers at Target Field 4 to 2 on just four hits. DH Ryan Doumit gets all four Twins RBI on a home run and a double. Scott Diamond goes 7.1 innings but does not get the win as he gives up 2 runs (just 1 earned) on six hits. Jared Burton gets credit for the win after retiring two batters on five pitches. Just goes to show that life is not always fair. Box Score
2011 – The Twins are trying to avoid their first 100-loss season in nearly 30 years, and just manage to do it, beating the woeful Kansas City Royals, 1-0, in the last game of the year for a 63-99 record. The Twins get 10 hits but can only push one run across home plate. The only run scores in the bottom of the ninth inning as Trevor Plouffe gets the walk-off single at Target field. Joe Benson gets two of Minnesota’s hits. Carl Pavano gets the shutout win allowing just 5 hits. Box Score
2009 – No game today. The game in Detroit against the Tigers was rained out and will be played as part of a double header tomorrow.
2004 – No game today, the Twins game in New York against the Yankees was rained out and rescheduled for tomorrow as part of a twin bill.
2003 – The AL Central Division winning Twins close out a very good season (90-72) with two straight losses to the last place Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. In front of 18,959 Tigers fans the Twins lose the season finale 9-4 to Tigers pitcher Mike Maroth who had a 9-21 season. The Twins used six pitchers but it was first round pick Adam Johnson (0-1) that took the brunt of the beating when he pitched just 1/3 of an inning and gave up 6 runs on 6 hits in a seven run sixth inning for Detroit. It would be his last big league game. Chris Gomez had two hits including a home run and Mike Ryan also had two hits, both were doubles. Well, The New York Yankees are waiting…. Box Score
2001 – The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0 at Jacobs Field. Each team used three pitchers but no one gave up an earned run. Since 2001 this has occurred to the Twins just three times and two of the three occurrences were against the Detroit Tigers. Eric Milton got credit for the win with seven innings of scoreless baseball while allowing only two hits and 6 walks. Cristian Guzman scored the games only run on a throwing error by Danys Baez in the eight inning. Bobby Kielty has two of the teams six hits. Box Score
1997 – The Twins beat the first place Indians at Jacobs Field 5-1 and they finish the season in fourth place with a 68-94 record, their worst record in a non-strike shortened season since they went 60-102 in 1982. Bob Tewksbury started for Minnesota and pitched a quick 2 hour 32 minute complete game allowing just the one run (8-13) on six hits and getting the win. Chuck Knoblauch had 3 of the Twins 9 hits not to mention 2 stolen bases. Matt Lawton had 3 RBI. Charles Nagy (15-11) took the Cleveland loss. Box Score
1995 – Kirby Puckett was hit in the face by a Dennis Martinez fastball, at the Metrodome against the Cleveland Indians, leaving him bloodied with a shattered jaw. The injury marked the end of both his season and, as it turned out, his career. There were only 9,442 at the Dome that day. The following spring Puckett batted .360, but on March 28, the last day of training camp, he woke up unable to see out of his right eye. He was diagnosed with glaucoma, and four eye surgeries in a four-month span did nothing to improve his vision. The Twins went on to lose the game 12-4 and committed three errors along the way. Twins starter Frankie Rodriguez took the loss with 7 runs allowed in 6.1 innings. Matt Lawton hit a home run and Chuck Knoblauch had two hits including a double and a stolen base. Box Score
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1994 – No Game Today
1989 – No Game Today
1988 – In his final start of the season and his final start in a Twins uniform, Bert Blyleven pitches a complete game at the Metrodome but loses 5-2 to the Oakland A’s. Bert must have been in a foul mood that day because in the second inning he plunked Don Baylor, Ron Hassey, and Tony Phillips tying an AL record with numerous others. He also struck out the side that inning. Blyleven led the league with 16 hit batters that season. Steve Lombardozzi hit the Twins only home run of the game. Box Score
1987 – The Twins clinch a division title, their first since 1970, when they beat the Texas Rangers 5-3 in Texas in their 157th game of the season. Twins starter Joe Niekro lasts 6.1 innings allowing 3 runs on 9 hits but get a ND for his work. Reliever Juan Berenguer is there to pick up the win and up his season record to 8-1. Steve Lombardozzi has two hits including a home run and for RBI. Box Score
1984 – The Twins, leading 10-0 after 2 ½ innings and with ace Frank Viola on the mound in Cleveland Stadium, lose 11-10 and are officially eliminated when Kansas City wins that night. Gary Gaetti has a throwing error in Cleveland’s seven-run sixth and offers this candor: “It’s hard to throw with both hands around your neck.’’ Ron Washington had 3 hits in 5 at bats with two doubles and four RBI and Kirby Puckett had three hits and scored twice but it was all for naught. Box Score
1982 – The Twins and Blue Jays play two at Exhibition Stadium and the Twins come out on the short end in both games. In the first game the Blue Jays Jim Clancy pitches a one-hitter (a Randy Bush single to right field leading off the ninth inning breaks up the perfect game) to beat rookie Frank Viola and the Twins 3-0 and the game is played in an amazing 1 hour and 33 minutes and becomes the Twins shortest ever nine inning game. Box Score Game One
The Twins stake Terry Felton to a 3-0 lead in the night-cap of the twin bill but the Blue Jays tie the score knocking out the hard luck pitcher from what turns out to be his last major league game. The Jays end up walking-off the Twins 4-3 in the bottom of the tenth inning on a single by Geno Petralli off Twins reliever Ron Davis. The Twins big bat in the game belonged to Ron Washington who had 3 hits in 5 AB’s and two RBI. The no-decision leaves the 24-year old right-hander with a lifetime mark of 0-16, a major league record for most career losses without recording a victory. Box Score Game Two
1978 – No Game Today. In what is referred to in Minnesota as simply “the speech”, took place on this day as owner Calvin Griffith spoke to a group at a Lions Club meeting in Waseca, Minnesota. Nick Coleman a Minneapolis reporter was attending the event with his father-in-law. As Griffith spoke, Coleman starting taking notes and in the October 1 issue of the Tribune Coleman wrote that Griffith stated “Rod Carew is a “damn fool” for playing for as little as I pay him; ball players should take advantage of free love rather than get married and have their performance suffer like Butch Wynegar; Billy Martin “never punched anyone his own size”; the stadium commission “can go to hell”; and the Minnesota Twins decided to come to Minnesota “when I found out you only had 15,000 blacks here”. The negative reactions were swift and strong, Griffith stated he was taken out of context but Griffith’s words followed him for the rest of his life.
Calvin Griffith In The (Waseca) Lions Den (April 29, 2014)
Waseca Speech was a low point for Calvin Griffith (August 12, 2015)
Baseball Plantation (Washington Post)
Racial justice for the Minnesota Twins: The forgotten battle (September 8, 2010 – MinnPost)
Twins’ statue again revives debate on distasteful history (MPR NEWS April 16,2015)
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1974 – Nolan Ryan pitched his third of seven career no-hitters, striking out 15 batters, walking 8 and beating the Minnesota Twins 4-0 at Anaheim Stadium for his 23rd win of the season. The attendance was 10,782. The Twins starter and loser was Joe Decker who was pulled after just 2.2 innings and two runs on four hits. Bill Butler went the final 5.1 innings in relief of Decker. Box Score
1972 – Scheduled day off but the Twins have a September 26 rainout to make up today against the Oakland A’s at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Dick Woodson starts for the Twins and Blue Moon Odom does the start for the A’s but he is gone after four innings when the Twins throttle him in the top of the fifth inning and score five times to take a 7-0 lead. Woodson, Wayne Granger and Dave LaRoche can’t hang on to the lead when the A’s peck away with 1 in the fifth, 1 in the sixth, 3 in the seventh and 2 in the 8th to tie it at 7-7. Then in the bottom of the ninth LaRoche hits Sal Bando with a pitch to lead off the inning and Dal Maxvill follows with a double and the Twins blow a 7-0 lead and get walked off 8-7. Laroche takes the loss. Each team had 11 hits and Jim Holt leads the visiting Twins with 3 hits while Steve Braun, Cesar Tovar and Danny Thompson get two each. Box Score
1969 – The Twins clinch the division title in their 158th game of the season when they defeat the Seattle Pilots 5-2 in the first game of a double-header in Seattle’s Sick’s Stadium. Dave Boswell went 7 innings allowing 2 runs (1 earned) while allowing 3 hits and 4 walks and earned his 20th win of the season. Ted Uhlaender hit a home run and Rod Carew had two hits including a double and 3 RBI. Ron Perranoski pitched the final two hitless innings earning Save number 30. Box Score Game One
The Twins must have lost interest in the nite-cap because they lost 4 to 1 to a team that already had 96 losses in the books. The Seattle Pilots existed for just one season and then became the Milwaukee Brewers. Bob Miller started and lost for the Twins going 6 innings and allowing 2 runs. Dick Baney started his first big league game for the Pilots after eight relief appearances and ended up winning his first major league game by going 8 innings and allowing just one run on eight hits. Rod Carew accounted for the Twins only run with a home run while former Twin Don Mincher had 3 hits including a home run and double and 3 RBI for the Pilots. Box Score game two
1961 – Yesterday the fans at the Met almost witnessed a no-hitter and today neither starter can get out of the second inning. Twins starter Pedro Ramos was pulled after allowing four runs but just one earned as he gave up four hits while retiring just two of the seven batters he faced. Indians starter Mudcat Grant didn’t fare much better going just 1.2 innings allowing three runs on three hits and five walks. After two innings the Indians led 4 to 3. It turned out that on this day Cleveland’s bullpen was better as Wynn Hawkins relieved Grant and went the final 7.1 innings allowing just two runs on seven hits. Meanwhile; Don Lee who came in for Ramos allowed 7 runs in 3.2 innings. When the smoke cleared the Indians had a 12-5 win fueled by 13 hits, two walks and four Twins errors. Hawkins got the win for Cleveland and Ramos took the defeat for Minnesota and in the process became the first Twins pitcher to lose 20 games to go with his 11 wins. Indians shortstop Woodie Held has hit 23 home runs this season and seven of them have come against Minnesota including two today. Six of the seven home runs against the Twins have come at the Met. Harmon Killebrew hit his 46th home run of the year along with a single. Bill Tuttle had an odd day getting two hits and hitting into two double-plays in five plate appearances. Hal Naragon who entered the game in the fifth inning as a PH was 2 for 2. The 3,323 fans at the Met saw a lot of action today, all packed into a 2 hour and 40 minute game. Box Score
1955 – Minneapolis Millers win first Junior World Series in final game at Nicollet Park by Stew Thornley
