The Twins Almanac: An 81-Pitch Gem, A Rule 5 Catcher and a 42-Year-Old Pitcher

[Matt Johnson]

This weekend's Almanac features notes on Terry Mulholland, Mark Salas, and John Butcher, plus a bonus trivia question. 

 

March 8: Happy 68th birthday to former Twins pitcher John Butcher. He pitched a remarkable one-hour and 55-minute complete-game shutout on April 21, 1985. The Twins were on a nine-game losing streak, falling to 2-9 on the season entering the Sunday series finale in Oakland when Butcher hurled the 81-pitch gem, allowing three hits, but facing just 28 batters. Leadoff hitter Kirby Puckett went 3-for-5, driving in the Twins' only two runs. It was the beginning of a 10-game winning streak.

Speaking of efficient pitcher performances, Carlos Silva needed just 74 pitches to beat the Brewers at the Metrodome on May 20, 2005, allowing just five hits including a solo home run. That game, however, lingered on for 2 hours and 27 minutes as the Twins put up seven runs, with Nick Punto going 4-for-4 with an RBI and run scored.

Minnesota native Dave Goltz threw a 70-pitch two-hit shutout on October 1, 1974. 

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March 8: Happy 64th birthday to former Twins catcher Mark Salas. After being acquired from the Cardinals in the December ‘84 Rule 5 Draft, Salas had one of the better rookie seasons in Twins history in 1985, batting an even .300. (It wound up being the best season of his eight-year MLB career.) The Twins traded Salas to the Yankees for knuckleballer Joe Niekro in June 1987.

He served as White Sox bullpen catcher from 1995 to '99, and 2008 to 2018 (age 57!). That's pretty cool if you ask me. 

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March 9: Happy 62nd birthday to 20-year major leaguer Terry Mulholland. When I hear his name, I instantly flash back to Kirby Puckett's home run off him in the 1993 All-Star Game en route to being named the game's MVP. 

 

Mulholland pitched for the Twins in 2004 and 2005 (ages 41 and 42). In 2005, he became just the third pitcher in MLB history to beat all 30 teams. (Of course, there was no interleague play prior to 1997. As of today, 23 pitchers have accomplished the feat, including Bartolo Colón, who also joined the club while playing for the Twins.) 

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BONUS TRIVIA: Can you name the only player to lead the American League in hits with three different teams? Leave your answers in the comments section at the bottom of the page. 

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[stringer bell]

Terry Mulholland is an Immaculate Grid favorite of mine (I always try to populate all the entries with current or ex-Twins). Mulholland played for eleven teams in his long career, was an All-Star and threw a no-hitter.

Butcher had a nice first year with the Twins after being acquired from the Rangers. Through his time with the Twins, he "owned" the Baltimore Orioles and was 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA against them in '84.

My guess for the Trivia Question would be Paul Molitor, leading the AL in hits with the  Brewers, Blue Jays and Twins on his way to well over 3000 knocks.

[Mortimerkenny21]

Dang I was going to say Luis Arreaz, but realized he won batting titles for an AL team..us the good guys, and then two NL teams.

[Matt Johnson]

2 hours ago, Mortimerkenny21 said:

Dang I was going to say Luis Arreaz, but realized he won batting titles for an AL team..us the good guys, and then two NL teams.

That is pretty crazy that he won three-straight batting titles with three different teams. Hard to imagine that happening in the '80s.

 

[Matt Johnson]

5 hours ago, stringer bell said:

Terry Mulholland is an Immaculate Grid favorite of mine (I always try to populate all the entries with current or ex-Twins). Mulholland played for eleven teams in his long career, was an All-Star and threw a no-hitter.

Butcher had a nice first year with the Twins after being acquired from the Rangers. Through his time with the Twins, he "owned" the Baltimore Orioles and was 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA against them in '84.

My guess for the Trivia Question would be Paul Molitor, leading the AL in hits with the  Brewers, Blue Jays and Twins on his way to well over 3000 knocks.

I totally forgot that Mulholland threw a no-hitter. I was surprised to see he only made one All-Star team. I was at peak impressionability in 1993, so to this day any player who was an All-Star that year I just assume must have been a perennial All-Star [laughing emoji].

[Doctor Wu]

Thanks for another trip down memory lane. I can't remember the last time I thought about guys like Mark Salas and John Butcher. Big smiles.

But this stat blew my mind:

Minnesota native Dave Goltz threw a 70-pitch two-hit shutout on October 1, 1974. 

A complete game shutout with only 70 pitches?! Insane! That leads me to wonder what the record is for the least number of pitchers in a full game shutout?

[Matt Johnson]

1 hour ago, Doctor Wu said:

Thanks for another trip down memory lane. I can't remember the last time I thought about guys like Mark Salas and John Butcher. Big smiles.

But this stat blew my mind:

Minnesota native Dave Goltz threw a 70-pitch two-hit shutout on October 1, 1974. 

A complete game shutout with only 70 pitches?! Insane! That leads me to wonder what the record is for the least number of pitchers in a full game shutout?

The Goltz one is unofficial (because MLB didn't officially keep track of pitch count at the time) but the official scorer at that game was keeping track anyway. 

The writing is kind of chaotic, but a number of years ago I attempted a blog post about interesting shutout trivia: https://twinsalmanac.com/high-hit-shutouts/

[USAFChief]

On 3/8/2025 at 8:06 AM, stringer bell said:

My guess for the Trivia Question would be Paul Molitor, leading the AL in hits with the  Brewers, Blue Jays and Twins on his way to well over 3000 knocks.

Concur.

[USAFChief]

Side note: Butcher's 81 pitch gem was in the midst of 4 consecutive 9 inning complete games.

In April no less.

Can you imagine? And his arm didn't spontaneously combust!!

[Bodie]

C'mon!!!

Every Twins fan knows Nick Punto never went 4 for 4.... well ok, that one Jr. Hi game.  But he was 27 at the time! 

Speed and defense, and... well defense!  

(Love ya' Uncle Nicky!!!!)

[twinstalker]

Guessing Carney Lansford...now to read the comments to see if I'm right.  A little worried it's later in Puck's career but can't remember who hit and basically didn't walk.  There was someone I thought who was Puck's contemporary.

Well, yeah, I guess I should of thought of him...the answer.