This Week in Twins History: August 23-29

Written by: Justin Murphy on 23rd August 2009

This Week in Twins History: August 23-29 | read this item

On the Twins all-time win list, Dean Chance is 22nd, with 41 victories. Jack Kralick is even farther back on the list; his 26 career wins are one less than Kevin Slowey, one more than Francisco Liriano. Both men, however, accomplished the rare feat of throwing a no-hitter.

Kralick’s came first, on August 26, 1962 against Kansas City. His only baserunner came on a walk to George Alusik in the ninth inning. Unfortunately, his teammates were having nearly as much difficulty posting a run against Bill Fischer, the Athletics’ starter. After leaving men in scoring position in each of the first four innings, the Twins were blanked until the seventh, when Lenny Green hit a two-out sacrifice fly to bring home Bernie Allen with the game’s only run.

That game was the first no-hitter in Twins history, and the first for the franchise since Bobby Burke did it in 1931. Kralick went 12-11 in 1962, one of a few productive seasons in Minnesota before he was traded to Cleveland in 1963 for Jim Perry.

In early August 1967, Chance had a perfect game going through five innings, but the contest was called due to rain. Unperturbed, Chance retook the mound in Cleveland on August 25. The Indians struck first, getting a run in the top of the first inning on two walks, an error and a wild pitch. The Twins tied it in next half inning, though, and went ahead in the sixth when Tribe pitcher Sonny Siebert balked with the bases loaded.

Chance walked five men in the game, but was helped with two double plays. Along with Kralick’s no-no five years previous, these were the only two Twins no-hitters with a one run margin of victory; it was also the only one to happen on the road. Incidentally, Chance had thrown a one-hitter against the Twins in 1962 as a member of the Angels; Zoilo Versalles broke up that no-hit bid with an eighth inning single.

On August 27, 1975, Twins first baseman Craig Kusick had an entirely different problem in facing the Brewers’ Bill Travers. In the second, sixth and eleventh innings of a tight pitchers’ duel, Travers plunked Kusick, tying a major league record for the most times a batter has been hit in a game. After the last beaning, both Travers and Kusick were removed from the game. The pinch-runner, Steve Brye, scored the winning run when Tony Oliva singled off reliever Tom Murphy.

Another, longer extra-inning affair was August 26, 1978. The Twins and Yankees were knotted at four runs apiece through 19 innings before New York’s Mickey Rivers singled in a run to win it for the home team. Minnesota’s starting pitcher, Pete Redfern, failed to get the victory on his birthday.

Two years later on the same day, the umpires struck for a day, creating problems across the schedule. Most teams called upon amateur arbiters, but the Twins and Blue Jays hit upon the novel solution of using coaches to umpire. The Twins’ Jerry Zimmerman joined Toronto’s Don Leppert in helping two amateurs call the game; it was the first time since 1941 that active coaches or players had umpired. The Blue Jays won, 7-3.

On August 24, 1981, Minnesota first baseman Danny Goodwin slid into the designated hitter’s spot, thereby allowing 21-year-old Minneapolis native Kent Hrbek to make his major league debut. Batting in the eighth spot, Hrbek recorded his first hit in the fifth inning with an RBI single off the Yankees’ Tommy John. In the 12th inning, with the score tied at 2, Hrbek came through again, bopping a leadoff homer to win the game for the visiting Twins. He would go on to hit 292 more home runs in 1747 career games.

August 26 marks the 29th birthday of Twins infielder Brendan Harris. He was originally drafted in the fifth round of the 2001 draft by the Cubs, two picks ahead of Ryan Howard and 137 behind Joe Mauer. He joined the Twins in the Delmon Young trade, and has gone 203-766 for the Twins in two seasons.

Other Twins with birthdays this week: Stan Perzanowski (59 on August 25); Joe McCabe (69 on August 27); Marty Martinez (68 on August 23); and Randy St. Claire (49 on August 23).

Hyeong Rok-Choi, a South Korean catcher with the GCL Twins, will be 20 on August 23. This season, he has an on-base percentage of .374.

Until next week, Twins fans.

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Topics: Bernie Allen, Bill Fisher, Bill Travers, Bobby Burke, Brendan Harris, Craig Kusick, Danny Goodwin, Dean Chance, Delmon Young, Don Leppert, Francisco Liriano, George Alusik, Hyeong-rok Choi, Jack Kralick, Jerry Zimmerman, Jim Perry, Joe Mauer, Joe McCabe, Kent Hrbek, Kevin Slowey, Lenny Green, Marty Martinez, Mickey Rivers, Minnesota Twins, Pete Redfern, Randy St. Claire, Ryan Howard, Sonny Siebert, Stan Perzanowski, Steve Brye, This Week in Twins History, Tom Murphy, Tommy John, Tony Oliva, Zoilo Versalles