The Twins Almanac for July 15, 2025: Morneau Scores All-Star Game-Winning Run, Mudcat Grant Pitches 13-Hit Shutout

Justin Morneau scored the winning run in the 15th inning of the All-Star Game on this date in 2008, extending the American League's unbeaten streak to 12 years. Coming the day after he won the Home Run Derby, the game (in which Morneau went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk) was the best he played in his three appearances in the Midsummer Classic.

Mudcat Pitches 13-Hit Shutout
Despite giving up 13 hits and a walk, Mudcat Grant pitched a complete game shutout of the Senators for a 6-0 Twins win in Bloomington on this date in 1964. He allowed a baserunner in eight of nine innings, as the Senators managed two singles in the first, two in the second, one in the third, three (in a row!) in the fourth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh. He issued his only walk in the eighth, and also allowed another single. The Senators had two more knocks in the ninth, though Grant erased one of them on the final play of the game, the second double play he induced on the day. Of the 39 batters Grant faced that day, almost half (19) came with someone on base, but he managed to wriggle out of trouble each time he got into it.

Thirteen is the most hits ever allowed by a Twins pitcher in a shutout.

Twins Hit Back-to-Back Homers for Walk-Off Win
Trailing the Kansas City A's 2-1 going into the bottom of the ninth, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva homered on the first two pitches of the inning for a walk-off win on this date in 1967.

The Twins' first run came on a Killebrew homer in the first. The win pulled the Twins to within 1.5 games of the league-leading White Sox, in the penultimate season of pre-divisional play.

Twins Win On Third Straight Walk-Off
The Twins had their third straight walk-off win on this date in 1974. On the 13th, it was a Rod Carew single. On the 14th, a Steve Braun homer. And on this date, a Steve Brye single for a 4-3 win over the Brewers. Brye, now little remembered, was a solid righty-hitting role player for the 1970s Twins, playing all over the outfield.

St. Cloud State Alumni Meet in the Majors
1977 St. Cloud Tech graduate Jim Eisenreich went 1-for-2 with a walk and a double versus 1979 Fairfax graduate and former St. Cloud State teammate Dana Kiecker in a 13-4 Royals win at Fenway, on this date in 1990. It was the first time that St. Cloud State alumni played against each other in the major leagues.

In total, Eisenreich went 4-for-8 with a walk and two doubles versus Kiecker between 1990 and 1991.

Torii Hunter/Wayne Hattaway Story
"I flew into Fort Myers on July 15, 1993, a wide-eyed 17-year-old kid from Arkansas," Torii Hunter told Patrick Reusse for a May 2, 2020 article. "First guy I met in the organization was Wayne [Hattaway]. He shakes my hand and says, ‘I hope you’re better than our last No. 1 choice.'

“The thing about Wayne, behind all the one-liners, he was an encyclopedia of baseball. We had great, long talks. He was an important friend to me.”

Hunter was among the group of Twins who picked up the tab for road expenses to have the retired Big Fella in clubhouses and dugouts.

Are you interested in Twins history? Then check out the Minnesota Twins Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Twins uniform!