April 16, 2017

All our hopes and dreams may be realized, Twins fans — part 2

During spring training, pitcher and newcomer Adalberto Mejia showed off his pitching potential after he struck out eight St. Louis Cardinals in three-plus innings.

But the future of Twins pitching burned brighter still on Saturday after veteran Ervin Santana improved to 3-0 by pitching a complete game shutout of the Chicago White Sox. Santana went the distance, but gave up only one hit and struck out eight to lower his ERA to 0.41. It was the first one-hitter in Target Field history and the second since Scott Baker did it on Aug. 31, 2007, at the Metrodome, according to MLB.com. Baker one-hit the Kansas City Royals.

Santana was backed by plenty of offense, with the Twins hitting five doubles and one triple to score five runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Twins scored one more run late in the game and that was the final, 6-0.

Extra innings…

-Byron Buxton hit one of those doubles on Saturday and raised his average to .100.

-After a rough debut for the Twins, starting pitcher Mejia bounced back Friday and gave up one run over five innings with four strikeouts. Mejia didn’t figure in the decision and the Twins lost 2-1 to the White Sox.

Some reaction to Santana’s win on Saturday:

 

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.