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2023 – The Twins beat the Rockies at Coors Field by a score of 14-6, giving Kyle Farmer and Jorge Polanco their first career managerial victories after Rocco Baldelli decided to play adviser on this day. Emilio Pagán was the Opener, pitching 1 scoreless inning after getting his first save of 2023 last night. The start by Pagan was his first ever in the big leagues. This is the first time that a pitcher finished the previous game and started the next day since October 3, 2004 when Kyle Lohse pitched the final inning in a suspended game in the Metrodome getting the win and then after a 20 minute break started the next game in which he got the loss going just four innings. A win and a loss on the same day for Lohse. Chris Paddack (1-0) earned the win in relief, pitching 3 scoreless innings, with two hits allowed, no walks and four strikeouts. The offense recorded 12 hits and were led by Edouard Julien, who went 3-for-5 with three RBI and his 16th home run of the season. Trevor Larnach (8) hit his first career grand slam, the eighth for the Twins this season, tying the club record for grand slams in a season, previously done in 1961. Matt Wallner (14) and Max Kepler (24) also hit home runs. The Twins win brought their September record to 18-9 . The 18 wins is the most most they have have had in any month this season. The Twins road record for the season stands at 40-40 going into the season finale. Box Score
2022 – RYAN WRAPS UP ROOKIE SEASON WITH DOMINANCE: The Twins shut out the Tigers at Comerica Park by a score of 7-0. Joe Ryan (13-8) made his final start of the season, pitching 6 shutout innings with five hits allowed, one walk and eight strikeouts. Ryan set a Twins rookie record for strikeouts in a season (since 1961), fanning Spencer Torkelson in the second inning with his 145th strikeout of the season, passing Francisco Liriano’s 2006 total of 144; he finished with 151 on the season. The offense recorded 14 hits, including five players with multiple hits, highlighted by Jermaine Palacios, who snapped an 0-for-34 (fourth longest by Twins position player) and finished the night with three singles. The Twins finished the month of September with a 10-18 record. Box Score
2021 – The Twins lost their final home game of the 2021 season tonight at Target Field to the Detroit Tigers by a score of 10-7. Joe Ryan was the starter but did not factor into the decision, allowing six runs on six hits in 4.2 innings pitched. The offense recorded 10 hits, including three from Byron Buxton who doubled once and homered twice, giving him a single-season career-high of 18 home runs (4th career multi-homer game). Brent Rooker hit his 10th homer while Josh Donaldson hit his 25th of the season and 250th of his career. Tonight marks the first time since September 28, 2011 in which the Twins played their final home game of the season at night. The Twins beat the Royals in that game by a score of 1-0 as Carl Pavano pitched a complete game shutout and the Twins got a walk-off single from Trevor Plouffe. With their 88th loss of the season, the Twins completed their seven-game home stand with a record of 4-3 and a home record of 38-43 on the season. The paid attendance was announced at 21,186 for a total of 1,310,199 on the season (16,377 average). After COVID restrictions were lifted beginning July 5, the Twins averaged 20,215 fans over their final 41 home games (828,828). Tonight’s game lasted 3 hours and 33 minutes. The Twins are now off to Kansas City to close out the 2021 with three games against the Royals. The Twins finished the month with a 13-14 record. Box Score
2020 – Facing elimination, the Twins send Jose Berrios out to the mound and the Houston Astros counter with Jose Urquidy. The Astros draw first blood after Berrios retires the first two batters in the fourth but then walks two Astros bringing up Kyle Tucker who singles to left to put the Astros up 1-0. Urquidy walks Marwin Gonzalez leading off the bottom of the fifth but follows with a strikeout of Ryan Jeffers but the Astros decide to end Urquidy’s day and go with Brooks Raley. Luis Arraez works a walk but Raley strikes out Max Kepler and we have two on an two out for Nelson Cruz who delivers a double scoring Gonzalez but Arraez is thrown out at home for the final out of the inning and the game is tied at one apiece. The game does not remain tied for long at the Astros Carlos Correa hits a solo home run off Twins reliever Stan Stashak with two out in the top of the seventh. The Twins down 2-1 going into the ninth send Taylor Rogers to the mound to keep the game close. Unfortunately, Rogers faces three batters, giving up a walk, a single and a run scoring single to our old friend Kyle Tucker who gets his second hit and second RBI of the game. Rocco Baldelli brings in Tyler Duffey who retires the side but the damage is done and the Twins have one just chance left in the bottom of the ninth to keep their season alive. The Astros bring in former Twins reliever Ryan Pressly to save the game and he makes quick work of the Twins by striking out Miguel Sano, getting Alex Kirilloff on a line-out to third and ending the game and the Twins 2020 season when Jorge Polanco watches strike three go by. The Twins manage to get just three hits in their 3-1 loss to the Astros and now the Minnesota Twins have an amazing 18-game postseason losing streak which stands as the longest playoff losing streak among the four major North American professional sports. The Twins’ nine straight playoff series losses mark the third-longest such streak in baseball history, behind 10 by the Chicago Cubs (1910-1998) and Atlanta Braves (2001-active). The Twins, with approval from Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, hosted Twins front office employees, along with family members of both Twins and Astros players and staff, as guests to today’s game at Target Field… The crowd was less than 250 people, seated in a socially-distanced fashion throughout the Delta SKY360° Club (Twins front office staff) and suite level (players’ families). Alex Kirilloff made his MLB debut today, starting in right field and batting sixth, becoming the first player in MLB and Twins history to make his major league debut in the Postseason. Kirilloff, wearing number 76 finished the day 1-for-4, singling to right off Jose Urquidy in the fourth inning for his first major league hit. Eddie Rosario was ejected by home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez in the sixth inning for arguing balls and strikes and was replaced by Jake Cave. It turns out that Rosario would not wear a Twins uniform again after the Twins did not offer him a contract for the 2021 season. The last Twin to be ejected in a Postseason game was manager Ron Gardenhire in Game 2 of the 2010 ALDS vs. New York-AL (Elias). Box Score
2018 – The Minnesota Twins 2018 season mercifully comes to an end on an overcast 50 degree day in Minneapolis as the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 5-4 in front of 30,144 fans that showed up primarily to see 35-year old Joe Mauer play what could be his final game in Twins uniform and possibly his final big league game period as his eight-year $184 million deal came to an end. Zack Littell started for Minnesota and went four innings allowing two runs on three hits. Andrew Vasquez followed Littell and got credit for his first major league victory in his ninth big league game. Vasquez struck out the side on 14 pitches. Max Kepler was 2 for 4 with a double, home run and 2 RBI, Logan Forsythe had 2 RBI and Jake Cave also hit a home run. Joe Mauer, in his 15th Twins season hit an opposite field gapper to left in the seventh inning and stretched it into a double in his final at bat. Then in the top of the ninth, to everyone’s surprise, Joe Mauer came out wearing his catching gear for the first time since August 2013. Matt Belisle came in to pitch and threw just one pitch to White Sox batter Yoan Moncada (who had agreed beforehand not to swing) with Mauer catching and then Mauer walked out to the mound and gave Belisle a big hug and then Chris Gimenez came in to catch. Moncada got a double off Belisle and Trevor May was brought in to get the Save which he did on two strikeouts and a fly ball. That ninth inning was a real tear-jerker for Joe Mauer and his family, the players and the fans. After the game Mauer said that he has not made a decision on his future at this point. We were not at the game but we were glued to the TV set and saw it all. The Twins finished their season with six wins in a row making it their longest winning streak of the season and finished 78-84, second in the AL Central. Attendance was reported to be 30,144 but pictures below don’t seem to indicate that. Box Score.
Twins honor Mauer behind the plate in his final game
Brad Rempel USA Today
The Twins announced today that outfielder Alex Kirilloff has been named the 2018 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and left-handed pitcher Lewis Thorpe has been named the 2018 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
2017 – Tigers player Andrew Romine played all nine positions and helped the Tigers beat the Twins, 3-2 at Target Field. Rookie Aaron Slegers making just his third big league start took the loss, his first in the major leagues. Slegers went 4.1 innings and allowed 3 runs, 2 earned on 3 hits. The Twins didn’t generate much offense, just six hits. With the win, Detroit snapped its six-game losing streak to Minnesota. Romine became the fifth player in Major League history to play all nine positions in a game, and the first since former Tiger Shane Halter did it on the final day of the 2000 season against the Twins at Comerica Park. Others to play all nine positions include Bert Campaneris (Sept. 8, 1965), Cesar Tovar (Sept. 22, 1968) and Scott Sheldon (Sept. 6, 2000). Box Score
2008 – The Twins played in their first ever American League Central Division tie-breaker game (often called game 163) at Cellular Field against the Chicago White Sox and came away on the short end of a 1-0 score. Nick Blackburn was the hard luck loser. John Danks got the win Blackburn went 6.1 innings and allowed the one run on a Jim Thome home run in the seventh inning. The game was a pitchers duel with the White Sox getting five hits and the Twins just (12-9) and Bobby Jenks (30) got the save. (Michael Cuddyer and Brendan Harris) hits. The White Sox become the first team in major league history to defeat three different opponents in three days. Chicago beat the Indians on the last scheduled day of the regular season to necessitate the playing of a previous rain-out with the Tigers, which the Southsiders won 8-2, making today’s game with Minnesota necessary to determine the AL Central divisional championship. This tie-breaker or game 163 is considered a regular season game, not a playoff game. The Twins finished the season with an 88-75 record and in second place behind the White Sox. So, the Mighty Whitey’s advanced to the ALDS against the Tampa Bay Rays but they came up short there and lost the series 3 games to 1. Box Score
2007 – The Twins won their season finale 3-0 when they beat the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park as 36,364 baseball fans looked on. A bittersweet ending to a 79-83 season, their first losing season since 2000 and first such season under Ron Gardenhire as manager. Terry Ryan has moved on from the GM role with Bill Smith taking over. Torii Hunter a long-time fan favorite will leave as a free agent and eventually sign with the Angels. Today’s starters were Matt Garza for Minnesota and Julian Tavarez for the Red Sox. The Twins had only 4 hits in the game but they bunched three of them in the first inning and scored three times and that was all the scoring there would be in this season-ender. The RBI came off the bats of Hunter, Garrett Jones and Rondell White. Garza (5-7) got the win going 5 innings and allowing 1 run, zero earned runs on 4 hits and 109 pitches. Tavarez (7-11) took the loss. The Twins finished in third place in the AL Central 17 games in back of the Cleveland Indians. Box Score
1984 – The Twins jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning in the 1984 season finale at Cleveland Stadium but the Indians scored the next seven runs and the Indians hung on for a 7-4 win and extended the Twins losing streak to a season long six games. Ken Schrom (5-11) started for the Twins but exited after giving up six runs, four earned on six hits in 5.1 innings and eventually took the loss. Three Twins errors certainly didn’t help the situation. Bert Blyleven (19-7) started for the Indians and went 7.2 innings allowing 4 runs on 9 hits but it was good enough for the win. Ernie Camacho got save number 23 for Cleveland. Each team had nine hits and the Twins hits leaders with two each were Kirby Puckett, Mickey Hatcher and Tim Laudner. The Twins finished in a tie for second place with the Angels at 81-81 and pocketed about $3,500 each for second place money. This was the Twins highest finish since 1970. A decent little bonus for that time in baseball history. Box Score
1982 – In their final road game of the season the Twins get beat by the Toronto Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium 6-4 and in the process loss 100 games in a season for the first time. Jack O’Connor pitches a complete game and is charged with the loss. Kent Hrbek was 2 for 5 with a home run and double and 3 RBI while Gary Ward had 2 hits and a stolen base. Box Score
1981 – The Minnesota Twins played their final home game at Metropolitan Stadium in front of 15,900 fans and lose to the Kansas City Royals 5-2 after being out hit 16 to 4. Larry Gura pitches a complete game allowing the two runs and just four hits. Fernando Arroyo started and was the loser for Minnesota. John Verhoeven was the last Twins pitcher to throw off the Met Stadium mound. Pete Mackanin hit the Twins final home run at the Met (also his last big league home run) and Gary Ward had the Twins final hit at the home ball-park, a single in the ninth inning. DH Roy Smalley makes the final Twins out at Met Stadium. Box Score
Twins close Metropolitan Stadium with a loss by Joe O’Connell
1980 – No game today. The Twins versus Texas Rangers game was postponed due to wet grounds and rescheduled for October 1 at Arlington Stadium as part of a DH.
1979 – Jerry Koosman pitched a complete game shutout in one hour and 54 minutes at Met Stadium beating the Milwaukee Brewers 5-0 in the final game of the season as he posted his 20th win (20-13) in front of a crowd of 10,277. The Twins would not have another 20 game winner until Frank Viola accomplished the feat in 1988. If not for the shutout by Koosman, the Brewers would have become the only team besides the 1932 Yankees to go an entire season without being shut out. The Brewers were last held without a run on August 10, 1978, a span of 213 games, which at the time was the second-longest streak in MLB history. The Twins had nine hits, all singles and no one player had more than a one hit. The Twins finished the season with an 82-80 record, good for fourth place in the AL West Division, six games behind the California Angels. Box Score
Jerry Koosman reaches 20-win plateau for second time by Brian Wright
1976 – No game today, scheduled day off.
1974 – No game today, scheduled day off.
1970 – Twins shortstop Leo Cardenas loses a solo home run to an umpire’s decision. In the eighth inning of a game at Met Stadium, Leo Cardenas hit a fly ball down the LF line that the Twins thought hit the pole; third base umpire Lou DiMuro ruled it a foul ball; Twins Manager Bill Rigney charged out to argue with HP umpire Larry Napp; when Napp did not change the call, Rigney ran to DiMuro and argued; Rigney was ejected by DiMuro; Rigney kicked his cap about 30 feet; Bob Allison who wasn’t playing was also ejected from the bench by DiMuro. Cardenas then struck out. The Twins scored four in the bottom of the ninth to walk-off the Royals 6-4. The big hit was a pinch-hit three run walk-off home-run by Paul Ratliff. Bert Blyleven was the starter and went 8 innings allowing four runs, one earned but all it got him was a ND. Hal Haydel got the win. Box Score
1968 – Owner Calvin Griffith fires manager Cal Ermer the day after the 1968 season ends and the Twins finish seventh in the AL with a 79-83 record.
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1962 – The Twins played 163 games in 1962 and in the final game of the season, Camilo Pascual becomes the Twins first ever 20 game winner (20-11) when he and the Twins beat the Orioles 1-0 at Met Stadium. Pascual pitches a complete game 3 hitter and strikes out 7 O’s and gets one of the only two Twins hits that day. The Twins scored in the bottom of the first on a walk by Lenny Green, Green then stole second base and advanced to third base on an error before Harmon Killebrew singled him in. Pascual finishes the season with a 20-11 record and a 3.32 ERA in 257.2 innings with 206 KO’s, 5 shutouts, and 18 complete games and was the league leader in these categories. There were only 11,550 and the game was over in a flashy one hour and 49 minutes. The Twins finished the 1962 season with a record of 91-71-1 and ended up in second place in the AL standings just five games behind the pennant winning New York Yankees. Box Score
Camilo Pascual reaches 20-win goal in Twins’ season finale by Richard Cuicchi
1961 – 8,668 brave and hardy souls that apparently had nothing better to do on a Saturday morning (10:25 am start time) braved the rain and cool weather to watch the Twins battle the Detroit Tigers at Met Stadium. I am not positive on why such an early start time but I am guessing it was because the defending national champion Gold Gophers football team was opening their 1961 season at home at Memorial Stadium against Missouri that afternoon. You figured it might be a bad day when starter Jim Kaat was only able to retire just one batter on his own in the first inning as two Tigers runners were thrown out on the bases when Kaat gave up five hits and three runs to start out the ballgame. An error by Lenny Green didn’t help the situation. The Tigers gave rookie Howie Koplitz his first big league start and it didn’t go that all that well as he gave up four runs on four hits, a walk and an error but he survived the inning and went on to pitch a complete game albeit an abbreviated one. The Tigers put Kaat out of his misery in the third inning after he gave up two more runs and Lee Stange was brought in to see what he could do to stifle the Tigers. Stange walked in a run but managed to escape without further damage. With the score 6-4 in favor of the Tigers after three, the teams played for a couple more innings before the game was called on account of rain in the top of the sixth right after Stange had just retired Koplitz on a ground ball to short for the first out of the inning. Kaat earned the loss by allowing six runs (one unearned) on eight hits, a walk and a balk in 2.1 innings as he closed the books on a 9-17 season. Jose Valdivielso who was playing shortstop was the only Twins player with two hits. Fortunately for the fans in the stands and the players the game took just an hour and 46 minutes to complete. The win was number 100 for Detroit and the loss was number 89 for Minnesota as they lost their third in a row. The Twins finished September with a 13-15 record and will put a wrap on their first season tomorrow as they try to end their losing skid at three in a row. Box Score
