The Twins Almanac for July 10, 2025: Rod Carew Carries .400 Average into July

Let's begin today by wishing a happy 56th birthday to 1995 AL Rookie of the Year Marty Cordova. The left fielder went 20/20 and batted .277/.352/.486 as a 25-year-old that year, and had a strong follow-up season with 46 doubles in 1996. Thereafter, though, he was a below-average hitter and a replacement-level player for three seasons in a Twins uniform. He found only intermittent success knocking around the American League thereafter.

Morneau Goes 5-for-5 
Justin Morneau went 5-for-5 with a walk and an 11th-inning, game-winning home run in a 7-6 Twins win in Detroit on this date in 2008. Every win counted that year, although the Twins came up one victory short of the AL Central crown when they lost to the White Sox in Game 163.

Epic Ninth-Inning Comeback
Brian Dozier hit the below walk-off home run on this date in 2015, completing an epic ninth-inning comeback. Justin Verlander took a two-hit shutout into the eighth before Dozier knocked in the Twins' first run. The Tigers still led 6-1 going into the ninth. That summer, enlivened by the return of Torii Hunter and the dance parties the team threw in the clubhouse after wins, stayed fun into September, though they fell short of the postseason.

Twins Homer in 28 Straight Games
The Twins homered in both games of a doubleheader in Chicago on this date in 2024, giving them a home run in 28 straight games, blowing out of the water the previous team record streak of 18 games just one year earlier. 

Winona Native Makes MLB Debut
Winona native and Golden Gophers all-time great Paul Giel narrowly missed pitching to fellow Minnesota native Wes Westrum when he struck out the side in the ninth inning in his major league debut on this date in 1954. Future Twins manager Billy Gardner pinch-ran for Westrum in the eighth.

Giel made his second appearance a week later in St. Louis, entering to face just one batter: Sauk Rapids native Rip Repulski, who connected for an RBI single—the first major league hit allowed by Giel. (And this time Clearbrook native Wes Westrum was behind the plate.) On July 29, Giel again came in to face Repulski with a runner in scoring position, this time inducing an inning-ending double play.

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