In Today’s Almanac:
Single-game runs scored and RBI records on Rod Carew Jersey Day
One-hitters in 1964 and 1985
Minor-league team gets swept in doubleheader, despite giving up only two hits
Twins get shut out despite getting 11 hits
Carew and Adams Have Record Day
“Rod Carew Jersey Day” in 1977 is one of the most noteworthy regular season games in Twins history. On a sweltering summer day, the man himself, Rod Carew, went 4-for-5 with a home run, raising his average to .403—to the elation of the only sellout crowd of the season. Carew also knocked in six runs and scored a team-record five in the 19-12 win over the White Sox. Carew finished the season batting an incredible .388 and was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player.
Tim Teufel (9/16/83), Paul Molitor (4/24/96), and Luis Rivas (6/4/02) have since tied the team single-game runs scored record. Since Major League Baseball came to Minnesota in 1961, the only players with a higher batting average than Carew’s .388 were Kansas City’s George Brett, who hit .390 in 1980 (in 179 fewer plate appearances than Rodney), and Tony Gwynn, who hit .394 in 1994 (in 219 fewer trips, before the strike shut the season down early).
Right fielder Glenn Adams, meanwhile, set a team record with eight runs batted in. He had six RBIs after just two innings, on a two-run double and grand slam. He went 4-for-5 for the day, adding an RBI single and a sacrifice fly. (Adams drove in Carew three times in the game.)
Randy Bush tied Adams’s team record with eight RBIs in Texas on May 20, 1989. Whereas Adams had six of his ribbies in the first two innings, Bush collected six in the final two innings, with three-run homers in the eighth and ninth.
With all the prolific sluggers in Twins history, it’s pretty remarkable that the team’s single-game RBI record is shared by Adams and Bush. I find it particularly interesting that there have been 13 three-homer games in Twins history, but the most RBIs in any of those games is six.
The “Rod Carew Jersey Day” game is famous for another reason, too: Current Twins official scorer and award-winning baseball history writer Stew Thornley climbed the left-field foul pole!
Arrigo Pitches One-Hitter; Twins Acquire Worthington
Twins pitcher Gerry Arrigo had a no-hitter going into the ninth on this date in 1964, but White Sox leadoff hitter Mike Hershberger broke it up with a single to center. Arrigo completed the one-hit shutout, as the Twins won the first game of a doubleheader in Bloomington 2-0. The Twins’ only runs came on a Harmon Killebrew homer in the sixth, with Tony Oliva aboard.
Also on this date, the Twins purchased the contract of Al Worthington from Cincinnati. Worthington was the first great late-inning reliever in Twins history. Today we would call him a “closer,” but back then they might have called him a “stopper.”
Fun Fact: Dick Reusse went down to the College World Series in Omaha and recruited the University of Alabama standout to pitch for the Fulda Giants in the summer of 1950. Reusse had a knack for recruiting marquee talent to rural Minnesota. His team had included former Kansas City Monarchs star and 2001 Hall of Fame inductee Hilton Smith the previous season.
Schrom Pitches One-Hitter
On This Date in 1985: Twenty-one years to the day after Gerry Arrigo one-hit the White Sox, Ken Schrom one-hit the Royals. The Royals actually took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, without the benefit of a hit. Schrom walked Lonnie Smith, who came around to score on a botched pickoff attempt and a wild pitch. Willie Wilson singled to center for Kansas City’s only hit in the third inning.
Royals starter Charlie Leibrandt, meanwhile, held the Twins scoreless on just two hits through eight innings. Kirby Puckett led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to left. Ron Washington then bunted Puckett over to second. Kent Hrbek walked, and was pinch-run for by Gary Gaetti. After a wild pitch moved Puckett and Gaetti up to second and third, Leibrandt intentionally walked Tom Brunansky. The Royals brought in Dan Quisenberry with the bases loaded and one out to face Roy Smalley, who delivered a two-run walk-off single to center.
Class A Team Pitches Two 1-Hitters, Loses Both Games
The Class A Wisconsin Rapids Twins one-hit the Appleton Foxes in both games of a doubleheader on this date in 1982, but still managed to lose both games, 2-1 and 1-0. That Wisconsin Rapids team included future Twins Mark Davidson, Alvaro Espinoza, and Frank Eufemia.
Pattin Gives Up 11 Hits, Shuts Out Twins
Milwaukee’s Marty Pattin gave up 11 hits, but still managed to shut out the Twins for a 5-0 Brewers win on this date in 1971. It was the most hits ever allowed in a complete-game shutout of the Twins.
Are you interested in Twins history? Then check out the Minnesota Twins Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Twins uniform!