September 6, 2016

Dozier Day: Twins second baseman hits 3 home runs, now has 38

The Twins lost 11-5 on Monday (nothing new there), but that didn’t stop Twins second baseman Brian Dozier from having another great day at the plate. After hitting his 35th home run on Sunday, which tied the single-season record for home runs at Target Field, he hit three more to give him 38 on the season. And with those three dingers, Dozier joined some pretty exclusive company.

That’s because Dozier becomes only the second Twin in team history to hit more than 35 home runs in a season. The only other Twin to do that was none other than Harmon Killebrew, who hit more than 35 home runs nine times. Killebrew finished his career with 573 homers and entered the Hall of Fame in 1984.

Some other stats about Dozier’s dinger streak, according to MLB.com:

-Dozier’s 38 homers moves him into second place in all of baseball behind Baltimore’s Mark Trumbo. Trumbo has 41.

-His three homer performance was the sixth in Twins history. Max Kepler also had a three-homer game this season.

-His 38 homers is the most by a second baseman since Alfonso Soriano of the New York Yankees hit 38 in 2003. The American League record for most home runs by a second baseman is 39 (Soriano, again). The all-time record is 42. Seems to me that Dozier has a good shot at breaking both records.

-Dozier has hit 21 homers over the last 35 games.

Extra innings…

-Starter Jose Berrios lost on Monday to fall to 2-5 with the Twins, but there were some encouraging signs in the final numbers. Berrios gave up nine hits and five runs, all earned, in five innings. But he also had better command of his pitches after he walked only one batter and struck out six. Take away the three-run homer and Berrios exits the game with a 4-2 lead and a chance to win. Or, maybe a no-decision, because the bullpen got lit up again, surrendering six runs the rest of the way.

Some other thoughts on Dozier’s Day:

 

 

 

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.