In 2015, the Minnesota Twins re-invigorated the fanbase with a season of contention right down to the wire. In fact, the organization was so enamored by the breakouts of Brian Dozier, Eddie Rosario, Byron Buxton & Miguel Sano that aside from taking a gamble on KBO slugger Byung Ho Park, they didn’t do much in the way of roster-improvements for 2016. Expectations and excitement were at newfound levels for a new era of Twins baseball.
Within a week and a half, it had all imploded in inexplicable fashion.
This is an oral history of the 0-9 start…
0-1: 3-2 L @ BAL
- Keyed by Opening Day excitement and RBI from two Eds (Escobar & Rosario), Game 1 produced a taut 2-2 thriller at Camden Yards. But with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Twins reliever Kevin Jepsen went BB-1B-1B and saw Matt Wieters knock in Chris Davis for the Orioles winner.
0-2: 4-2 L @ BAL
- Chris Davis & Trevor Plouffe traded home runs but Yovani Gallardo (5 IP, 1 ER) was better than Kyle Gibson (5 IP, 4 ER).
0-3: 4-2 L @ BAL
- Despite jumping out to a 2-0 first inning lead thanks to a Joe Mauer homer, Phil Hughes & Trevor May coughed up four unanswered runs.
0-4: 4-3 L @ KCR
- After a strong Ervin Santana (6 IP, 2 ER) start, the first Park-bang of the season, and a big Kurt Suzuki effort (2B & 3B), the Twins again handed Jepsen a 3-2 lead heading into B8. An Alex Gordon single, Salvador Perez triple, & Omar Infante sac fly erased it all and KC reliever Wade Davis locked down the save.
0-5: 7-0 L @ KCR
- Two errors from Escobar at SS plus rough mound outings from
Mommy TiloneTommy Milone (4.2 IP, 4 R) and Casey Fien (1 IP, 3 ER) doomed attempt #5 at putting a 2016 win on the board.
0-6: 4-3 L @ KCR
- Everything seemed to be lining up for victory on this day: 3 H from Mauer, HR from Dozier, 4 H from Eduardo Nunez. A rare gem from SP Ricky Nolasco (7 IP, 1 ER) and even a Jepsen HLD set up Glen Perkins with a 3-2 lead in B9. A quick single, triple, & sac fly and the Kauffman fountains flowed into extras. In B10, May had Terrance Gore (RIP) picked off—until a Park error at 1B allowed the speedster to scamper to 3B with zero outs. May recorded the next two outs keeping Gore stationed at the third sack—before promptly wild-pitching him home with the winning KC run.
0-7: 4-1 L vs CWS
- The excitement of a Home Opener in front of 40,638 Twins faithful produced…6 H off Sox SP Jose Quintana and another lackluster loss.
0-8: 3-0 L vs CWS
- The mound brigade of Hughes, Fernando Abad, Alex Pressly, & Michael Tonkin 1.0 (3 ER) kept this contest competitive. Just four hits (one for extra bases—a Mauer double) off Carlos Rodon & Co. kept it a loss.
0-9: 3-1 L vs CWS
- Again, moundsmen Santana, Abad, May, & Taylor Rogers 1.0 (3 ER) gave the home squad a chance. Again, the offense sputtered: just 4 H off Mat Latos and the ChiSox bullpen.
It almost defied reality: three series into the 2016 season and the Twins had yet to make a mark in the left-hand column. The absolute personification of the “you can’t win a pennant in April—but you can lose one” maxim. Our boys of late-spring would post a victory in Game 10 of the campaign, but the tone of ‘16 had been irrevocably set.
