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:
Final: #MNTwins 6, #WhiteSox 0: Ervin Santana with a one-hit shutout. The second of his career. Five-run first.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) April 15, 2017
Garcia grounds out, and Ervin Santana has thrown the 17th one-hitter in Twins history. Twins win 5-0#MNTwins
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) April 15, 2017
Ervin Santana's career as a Twin started as inauspiciously as possible: 50G PED suspension before 1 pitch. Since then, 301 IP with 3.39 ERA.
— Nick Nelson (@NickNelsonMN) April 15, 2017