Record 63–99 (.389) Owner(s) Jim Pohlad Manager(s) Ron Gardenhire | Divisional place 5th General manager(s) Bill Smith | |
Local television Fox Sports North
(Dick Bremer, Bert Blyleven) | ||
The 2011 Minnesota Twins season was the 51st season for the franchise in Minnesota, and the 111th overall in the American League. The team drew 3,168,107 fans during the year. The Twins had a poor season, falling from first place the year before to last in 2011.
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Regular season
Longtime Twins pitcher and broadcaster Bert Blyleven was elected to the Hall of Fame on January 5, and inducted on July 24.
On May 3, on a 42-degree Chicago Tuesday night, Francisco Liriano hurled the Twins' fifth no-hitter, closing down the White Sox. He struck out two and walked six on 123 pitches, but won 1-0. Liriano's gem follows previous no-hitters by Jack Kralick (1962), Dean Chance (1967), Scott Erickson (1994) and Eric Milton (1999). To date, the Twins have been no-hit four times in their history.
The Twins opened their June 21 game against the San Francisco Giants and Madison Bumgarner with four singles and four doubles. The eight consecutive hits to open a game tied a major league record. After Ben Revere collected his second hit of the inning, Bumgarner was lifted.
Only Michael Cuddyer represented the Twins at the All-Star Game. As a reserve outfielder, he was inserted at first base for two innings and went 0 for 1.
Slugger Jim Thome belted career homers number 599 and 600 on August 15. He was just the eighth player in history to reach 600. Six days later at Target Field, Thome on the diamond with New York's Alex Rodriguez marked the first time since July 17, 1973 that two 600-home-run club members squared off—on that date it was Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
A Twins first happened on September 6, when Chris Parmelee, Joe Benson and Liam Hendriks each made their major league debut in the same game. Starting pitcher Hendiks took the loss, striking out 4 but giving up four hits and all three Chicago White Sox runs. Parmelee's 2-for-4 night topped Benson's 0-for 3.
At season's end, closer Joe Nathan finished with 260 Minnesota saves, topping Rick Aguilera's club record of 254. Nathan signed as a free agent with the Texas Rangers in November.
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