2011 Minnesota Twins season

2011 Minnesota Twins
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s) Jim Pohlad
General manager(s) Bill Smith
Manager(s) Ron Gardenhire
Local television Fox Sports North
(Dick Bremer, Bert Blyleven)
Local radio 1500 AM ESPN Radio Twin Cities (KSTP-AM)
(John Gordon, Dan Gladden, Jack Morris, Kris Atteberry, Ted Robinson, Bob Kurtz)
Stats ESPN.com
BB-reference
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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.

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.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3]

Slugger Jim Thome belted career homers number 599 and 600 on August 15.[4] 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.[5]

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.

Season standings

AL Central		 W L Pct. GB Home Road
Detroit Tigers 95 67 .586 — 50–31 45–36
Cleveland Indians 80 82 .494 15 44–37 36–45
Chicago White Sox 79 83 .488 16 36–45 43–38
Kansas City Royals 71 91 .438 24 40–41 31–50
Minnesota Twins 63 99 .389 32 33–48 30–51

Roster

2011 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Designated hitters

 Manager

Coaches

Game log

Legend
Twins Win Twins Loss Postponed
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