Yesterday the Minnesota Twins set a Target Field record by pounding six home runs in a 9-1 win over Oakland. Brian Dozier stroked two bombs, Joe Mauer, Byron Buxton and Jason Castro added one each, and Miguel Sano delivered the biggest blast—a 466-foot shot into the upper deck in center field.
Six home runs in a game fell short of the Twins’ all-time mark, however, as the power-laden 1963 club stroked eight on August 29 that year in a 14-2 romp over the Washington Senators. Harmon Killebrew and Vic Power each hit a pair, and Bob Allison, Rich Rollins, Bernie Allen and Jimmie Hall connected as well.
Although Sano and company didn’t set a Minnesota mark, their power surge came on the anniversary of another memorable day in Twins’ home-run history. On May 2, 1964, the Twins tied a major league record by hitting home runs in four consecutive at-bats in a 7-3 win over the Kansas City Athletics.
The game was tied at three when Tony Oliva led off the 11th inning and powered a 3–2 pitch from reliever Dan Pfister high over the right-field fence at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium. Allison also went 3–2 against Pfister before drilling a long home run that barely stayed inside the left-field foul pole.
Pfister then threw three straight balls to Hall, who turned on the fourth offering for a longball to right. Pfister departed, but Killebrew, the reigning home-run champ, greeted rookie Vern Handrahan by crushing his first pitch out of the park, beyond the outer wall in left field.
The feat was only the third time in big league history that four teammates had hit consecutive home runs.
Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock and Frank Thomas of the Milwaukee Braves homered consecutively off a pair of Cincinnati pitchers in a 10–8 loss to the Reds on June 8, 1961. And on July 31, 1963, Woodie Held, Pedro Ramos, Tito Francona and Larry Brown of the Cleveland Indians matched the Milwaukee quartet’s feat. All four Cleveland bombs were hit off Angels reliever Paul Foytack in a 9–5 win. Ramos, the former Twins pitcher who hit 15 home runs during his career, stroked two in the game.
Killebrew hit one of his patented long drives on that day 53 years ago, but it didn’t travel as far as Sano’s blast on Tuesday night. Remarkably, the Twins slugger said that he didn’t get all of the shot that dropped into Catch, the restaurant that tops the batting eye in straightaway center. He said he was jammed on the pitch.
“If I hit it good,” Sano said, “maybe (it goes) 500 (feet).”
Six home runs in a game fell short of the Twins’ all-time mark, however, as the power-laden 1963 club stroked eight on August 29 that year in a 14-2 romp over the Washington Senators. Harmon Killebrew and Vic Power each hit a pair, and Bob Allison, Rich Rollins, Bernie Allen and Jimmie Hall connected as well.
Although Sano and company didn’t set a Minnesota mark, their power surge came on the anniversary of another memorable day in Twins’ home-run history. On May 2, 1964, the Twins tied a major league record by hitting home runs in four consecutive at-bats in a 7-3 win over the Kansas City Athletics.
The game was tied at three when Tony Oliva led off the 11th inning and powered a 3–2 pitch from reliever Dan Pfister high over the right-field fence at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium. Allison also went 3–2 against Pfister before drilling a long home run that barely stayed inside the left-field foul pole.
Pfister then threw three straight balls to Hall, who turned on the fourth offering for a longball to right. Pfister departed, but Killebrew, the reigning home-run champ, greeted rookie Vern Handrahan by crushing his first pitch out of the park, beyond the outer wall in left field.
The feat was only the third time in big league history that four teammates had hit consecutive home runs.
Eddie Mathews, Hank Aaron, Joe Adcock and Frank Thomas of the Milwaukee Braves homered consecutively off a pair of Cincinnati pitchers in a 10–8 loss to the Reds on June 8, 1961. And on July 31, 1963, Woodie Held, Pedro Ramos, Tito Francona and Larry Brown of the Cleveland Indians matched the Milwaukee quartet’s feat. All four Cleveland bombs were hit off Angels reliever Paul Foytack in a 9–5 win. Ramos, the former Twins pitcher who hit 15 home runs during his career, stroked two in the game.
Killebrew hit one of his patented long drives on that day 53 years ago, but it didn’t travel as far as Sano’s blast on Tuesday night. Remarkably, the Twins slugger said that he didn’t get all of the shot that dropped into Catch, the restaurant that tops the batting eye in straightaway center. He said he was jammed on the pitch.
“If I hit it good,” Sano said, “maybe (it goes) 500 (feet).”