R2<\/a>: Kirby Puckett Game 6 Dominance 1991<\/p>\n R3<\/a>: First World Series championship 1987<\/p>\n R4<\/a>: AL Champions Metrodome welcome 1987<\/p>\n R5<\/a>: Game 163 wild victory 2009<\/p>\n R6<\/a>: Mudcat\u2019s World Series must-win 1965<\/p>\n R7:<\/a> Harmon\u2019s 500th homer 1971<\/p>\n R8:<\/a> Final day AL Central title 2006<\/p>\n R9:<\/a> Kirby Puckett\u2019s Weekend for the Ages 1987<\/p>\n R10:<\/a> Breaking the Playoff Curse (TM) 2023<\/p>\n R11:<\/a> The Donnie & Hrbie Show 1987<\/p>\n R12:<\/a> Johan Santana in 17K 2007<\/p>\n R13:<\/a> Mauer\u2019s Final Moment 2018<\/p>\n I\u2019ll always remember the events of 2018\u2019s final Minnesota Twins contest\u2014if mainly because I happened to be moving out of an apartment that day and missed it all live. But when my dust had settled and I watched the highlights, I was as moved by what transpired as any other MN sports fan.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n You already know the story: after growing up in St. Paul and attending Cretin-Derham Hall High School, Joe Mauer was drafted by the Twins in 2001 and played his entire HOF career<\/a> (2004-2018) in Twins Territory. Sadly, concussion issues<\/a> robbed Mauer of his favorite diamond position post-2014, so putting on the mask and gear for one final bow was likely as emotional for Joe as it was to all of us who watched it:<\/p>\n The newbie: Frankie beats the Rocket!<\/p>\n When Target Field opened to begin the 2010 season, it was clearly a beautiful new ballpark that the hometown nine excelled in. But it was missing one thing: a signature moment. Try as they might, the Twins could not muster a walk-off victory in front of the sold-out crowds for the first four-and-a-half months. But on August 17, The Man With An Ox In The Batter\u2019s Box<\/a> finally gave Target Field it\u2019s first magical memory<\/a>.<\/p>\n On July 10, 2015, the Twins trailed the Detroit Tigers 6-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. But in a remarkable sequence of events, Brian Dozier found himself at the plate with a chance to be a hero. He didn\u2019t disappoint. In the words of Dick Bremer<\/a>: \u201cThe most electric moment at Target Field in YEARS!\u201d.<\/p>\n The 2001 offseason was undoubtedly the worst in Twins franchise history. After MLB Commissioner Bud Selig floated the contraction<\/a> idea and Twins owner Carl Pohlad was more than willing to take the payout, it took a county judge<\/a> to restore order. Jacque Jones restored between-the-white-lines order by homering in the first PA<\/a> of the 2002 season! I wasn\u2019t able to locate the audio, but Dick Bremer\u2019s \u201cAnd I hope it lands in Milwaukee!\u201d call remains iconic.<\/p>\n Denard Span\u2019s triple takes the top off (2008)<\/p>\n In the final week of the 2008 season, the Twins needed to sweep the Chicago White Sox at the Metrodome to even have a fighting chance at the AL Central crown. After taking the first two games, MN fell behind big in the finale\u2014but kept battling back. In the bottom of the 8th, Denard Span bounced a ball down the first base line that scored Carlos Gomez to tie the game and propelled this Twinkie Town writer airborne<\/a>. Alexi Casilla would later give the Twins the victory<\/a>, but Span\u2019s big blow was the buoyant moment.<\/p>\n Francisco Liriano\u2019s 2006 run was perhaps the greatest pitching stretch in franchise history. His signature moment that season was out-dueling Roger Clemens in Houston<\/a> on June 22, 2006. With The Rocket (5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) in the midst of his home-state comeback, Liriano (8 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) outclassed the veteran in his own back yard. While by no means Frankie\u2019s best single-game performance of \u201806, beating Kody\u2019s Dad<\/a> put him on the national stage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Results R1: Jack Morris Game 7 Shutout 1991 R2: Kirby Puckett Game 6 Dominance 1991 R3: First World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[60068,5,15027,49,29284,53,70231,13875,139,44347,5185,17368,33822,843,822,60,3190,4,2300,148,1039],"class_list":["post-540826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-twins","tag-alexi-casilla","tag-baseball","tag-brian-dozier","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-denard-span","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-dick-bremer","tag-francisco-liriano","tag-houston","tag-jacque-jones","tag-joe-mauer","tag-johan-santana","tag-kirby-puckett","tag-milwaukee","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-minnesotatwins","tag-mlb","tag-target-field","tag-twins","tag-world-series"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115968164560141500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/fee533cbdce280fc946021e45af1d10d.jpeg\"\/)
Thome christens Target Field (2010)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/287dc283c73aab5c167c49b6ac5c48b5.jpeg\"\/)
Dozier caps a comeback (2015)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/485584a82c02eb052cc6768aa1b93210.jpeg\"\/)
Jacque Jones jolts contraction outta here (2002)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/f77f8f29d74fed45a6e899b407b7aa34.jpeg\"\/)
Francisco Liriano out-duels Roger Clemens (2006)<\/p>\n