Twins Almanac: Johan Santana and Torii Hunter Lead Twins Over the Yankees

Major league pitcher Roger "Peaceful Valley" Denzer was born in Le Sueur, MN on this date in 1871. He passed away in Le Sueur in 1949 (age 77) and is buried there. If anyone has any interesting stories or facts about Denzer, please share them in the comments section below. 

Olivia, MN native Blix Donnelly was a World Series hero for the Cardinals on this date in 1944, entering in a jam in the top of the eighth and pitching four scoreless innings as the Cards beat the St. Louis Browns 3-2 in 11 innings in Game 2. Soon after, the Cardinals won the Series in six games, over 1,000 people crammed into the Olivia Armory to honor Donnelly at an event broadcast by WCCO’s Halsey Hall and Cedric Adams.

Happy 66th birthday to Randy Bush, co-owner of the Twins single-game RBI record with eight on May 20, 1989.

He had a .500 on-base percentage in 43 pinch-hitting appearances and tied the AL record with seven-straight pinch hits during the Twins' 1991 World Series Championship season. Altogether, he connected for 74 pinch hits over his 12-year career, which is the most in team history.

Good at sliding.

Former Twins infielder Jeff Reboulet hit a clutch 3-2 first-inning homer off Randy Johnson in Game 4 of the ALDS on this date in 1997. Reboulet was starting at second base over Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar. Heckuva hunch by manager Davey Johnson.

Mike Mussina was dominant as the Orioles won 3-1 to clinch a trip to the ALCS.

Johan Santana pitched seven shutout innings and Torii Hunter robbed A-Roid of a home run leading off the bottom of the eighth as the Twins beat the Yankees 2-0 in Game 1 of the ALDS on this date in 2004.

Hunter threw out Jorge Posada tagging up from third and attempting to score in the second. The Twins' two runs off Mike Mussina came on a Shannon Stewart single, driving in Michael Cuddyer, and a Jacque Jones homer.

The Twins famously went 0-18 in the postseason after this, not winning another playoff game until 2023—19 years later. Uff da. 

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!