Twins Almanac: Beating Cy Young, Harmon Hits 400, Scott Erickson's No-Hitter

1903
18-year-old Minnesota native Charles Albert Bender pitched a four-hit shutout in his first major league start on this date in 1903, a week after earning the win in relief over Boston’s Cy Young in his MLB debut.

The Philadelphia Athletics beat the New York Highlanders and opposing pitcher Clark Griffith 6-0. Griffith went on to own the Washington Senators until his death in 1955 when Calvin Griffith took over. Calvin, of course, moved the Senators to Minnesota in 1961.

Bender became the first Minnesotan inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1953.

1930
Albany, Minnesota High School alumnus Showboat Fisher went 3-for-4 with a walk and two doubles on this date in 1930, giving him a .523 average and 1.323 OPS through the first 12 games of the season, after being out of the majors the previous five seasons.

The Cardinals went on to win the National League pennant in 1930. Just two years later, Showboat opened Fisher's Club on Middle Spunk Lake in Avon, MN. It's still open today. 

1965
Before even climbing the mound, Camilo Pascual hit the only grand slam by a pitcher in Twins history, staking himself to a 7-0 first-inning lead in Cleveland on this date in 1965. He went on to pitch a heckuva game, allowing just two hits and two walks in an 11-1 Twins win.

Pascual had previously hit a grand slam in the Senators’ final season in Washington, on August 14, 1960. Those four RBI were significant, as the Senators won the first game of the doubleheader at Yankee Stadium 5-4. (They won Game 2 in 15 innings.)  

1969
Harmon Killebrew hit his 400th career home run in the top of the first inning of an afternoon game in Chicago on this date in 1969.

Rod Carew hit a two-run homer in the seventh to give the Twins a 4-3 win.

All told, Killebrew hit 573 home runs, fifth-most in MLB history at the time of his retirement. He hit 84 as a member of the Washington Senators, 14 as a Kansas City Royal in 1975, and 475 in a Twins uniform.

1994
Scott Erickson pitched the first no-hitter in Metrodome history on this date in 1994, as the Twins beat the Brewers 5-0. It was the third of five no-hitters in Twins history, and the first since Dean Chance in 1967.

The Twins scored in each of the first four innings, staking Erickson to an early 5-0 lead.

The ninth inning was a little suspenseful. With two out in the inning, Erickson walked two batters before finally getting the dangerous Greg Vaughn to fly out to Alex Cole in left.

Kirby Puckett went 4-for-5 in the game.

Erickson, who led the American League with 20 wins and finished second in Cy Young balloting in 1991, was coming off a 1993 season in which he led the league with 19 losses and 266 hits allowed. He was 1-3 with a 7.48 ERA on the season prior to pitching his no-hitter.

Francisco Liriano was 1-4 with a 9.13 ERA before pitching his no-hitter on May 3, 2011.

2003
David Ortiz hit his first home run as a member of the Red Sox on this date in 2003.

One of the Twins' grievances with Ortiz was his supposed inability (or unwillingness) to hit to the opposite field, so of course his first home run with Boston was to the opposite field in Anaheim, where the Twins lost the ALCS six months earlier. Feels like he was trolling us. 

2022
Rookie Joe Ryan pitched a heckuva game on this date in 2022, giving up just one hit over seven scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 1.71 through his first four starts of the season.

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!