The Twins Almanac for July 25: Cruz and Molitor Bust Out the Boomsticks, Goltz Goes 11 for the Win

[Matt Johnson]

Boomstick, Baby!
Nelson Cruz homered in his first three at-bats on this date in 2019. He homered again the next day, tying the Twins record with a home run in five straight games. Can you name the other three Twins to homer in five straight games? Flex your Twins history knowledge in the comments below.

Remarkably, Cruz hit three home runs again nine days later!

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40-Year-Old DH Has 2-HR Game
And speaking of elder DHs, 40-year-old Paul Molitor went 3-for-4 with two home runs and an RBI-single in a 5-2 Twins win over the Orioles at home in the Dome on this date in 1997.

Fellow Minnesotan Terry Steinbach also homered in the game. Both, of course, are Golden Gophers all-time greats.

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Goltz Earns 11-Inning Win
Minnesota native Dave Goltz went all 11 innings (180 pitches) in a 2-1 Twins win over Oakland on this date in 1977. He tied for the American League lead with 20 wins that season. Also worth noting that no American League pitcher has pitched 300 innings since Goltz and Jim Palmer did so that season.

Larry Hisle drove in Rod Carew with the walk-off single in this 11-inning game, which only took two hours and 39 minutes.

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Happy Birthday, Chris Schwab
Happy 51st birthday to Chris Schwab, who the Montreal Expos drafted in the first round, 18th overall, out of Cretin-Derham Hall in 1993, two spots ahead of Torii Hunter. (Alex Rodriguez was the first-overall pick that year.) 

Unfortunately, he never made it past Double-A and played his final professional season at age 26 with the independent Duluth-Superior Dukes and St. Paul Saints.

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Edina-Morningside Graduate Has Triumphant Homecoming 
Edina-Morningside graduate Bob “Rocky” Johnson had a triumphant homecoming on this date in 1961. Playing for the new Washington Senators, he singled to center off the Twins' Jack Kralick in each of his first two major-league at-bats on Minnesota soil. (Just to clarify, this was his 82nd MLB game overall, but his first playing in Minnesota.) 

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Bemidji Grad Makes MLB Debut
27-year-old Bemidji grad and Golden Gophers all-time great Bryan Hickerson made his major league debut on this date in 1991, pitching a 1-2-3 top of the ninth in an 8-1 Giants win over the Mets, striking out Kevin McReynolds and Howard Johnson, and grounding out Vince Coleman. Not a bad start in “The Show,” huh?

Hickerson was drafted by the Twins in 1986 but sent to San Francisco as part of the Dan Gladden trade in 1987.

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Also on this date:

 

 

 

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[gil4]

I got 3 of 4 on the photo - I had to cheat with AI for the 2nd from the left.  The two in uniform were pretty easy, but I don't think I have seen photos of the other two without caps on.