The Twins Almanac for May 3: Francisco Liriano's Wild No-No, First Pitches, and First Impressions

[Matt Johnson]

Today's Almanac includes the fifth no-hitter in Twins history, a hot start to a season and a hot start to a career by two players forever linked in Twins history, and the birthday of a major league pitcher from the northwest suburbs. 

Image courtesy of © Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images

On This Date in 2011: Liriano Pitches a No-Hitter
Francisco Liriano pitched the fifth no-hitter in Twins history on a chilly 42-degree night in Chicago on this date in 2011, beating the White Sox 1-0. The Twins' only run came on a Jason "Klutch" Kubel homer in the fourth inning. 

Liriano was far from perfect, issuing six walks—the same as St. Paul native Jack Morris when he pitched his no-hitter on a similarly chilly day in Chicago in April 1984. (Nolan Ryan walked eight when he no-hit the Twins in Anaheim in 1974.)

Liriano was 1-4 with a 9.13 ERA coming into his no-hitter. Interesting to note that Scott Erickson was 1-3 with a 7.48 ERA before pitching his no-hitter in April 1994, and coming off a 1993 season in which he led the majors with 19 losses and the most hits allowed. 

Liriano only struck out two batters in his no-hitter, despite averaging 7.5 K's per nine innings that season and 9.2 per nine over the course of his career. He threw 123 pitches—only 66 for strikes.

He finished the season with a 9-10 record, 5.09 ERA, and 1.489 WHIP. The no-hitter was Liriano’s only complete game as a Twin. (He pitched two complete games with the Pirates in 2013.)

 

On This Date in 1986: Puckett Leads Off Second-Straight Game with First-Pitch Homer
Kirby Puckett homered on the very first pitch of the game for the second-straight game on this date in 1986. 

He hit a leadoff homer off Jack Morris the previous day, and ambushed Walt Terrell in this game. It was his fourth-straight game with a homer, sixth in the past seven games, and 11th on the season—remarkable, considering he hit only four home runs in 1985 and zero during his 1984 rookie season. He finished the '86 season with a career-high 31 home runs, making him the only player in MLB history to have a full season with zero home runs and later hit 30. 

This was Kirby's seventh-straight game with at least four total bases. 

 

On This Date in 2010: Ramos's Historic First Two Games
The day after going 4-for-5 in his major league debut, Twins catcher Wilson Ramos went 3-for-4 with two doubles on this date in 2010, becoming just the fourth player in MLB history with seven hits in his first two games, and the first since Nanny Fernandez in 1942. 

Ramos only played seven games for the Twins before being traded to the Washington Nationals for closer Matt Capps, who helped the Twins make it to the ALDS (where they were swept by the Yankees).  

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Happy Birthday, Joey Gerber
Happy 28th birthday to Wayzata graduate Joey Gerber, who made it to the majors with the Mariners in 2020. 

Didn't allow a hit in his first two major league relief appearances against the Angels, retiring Albert Pujols, Mike Trout, and Shohei Ohtani.

He is currently at Triple A in the Rays organization. 

 

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