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1986 Minnesota Twins season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1986 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
CityMinneapolis, Minnesota
Record71–91 (.438)
Divisional place6th
OwnersCarl Pohlad
General managersAndy MacPhail
ManagersRay Miller, Tom Kelly
TelevisionKMSP-TV
(Bob Kurtz, Harmon Killebrew)
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Joe Angel)
← 1985 Seasons 1987 →

The 1986 Minnesota Twins finished at 71–91, sixth in the AL West, 21 games behind the eventual American League West runner-up California Angels. 1,255,453 fans attended Twins games, the second lowest total in the American League. Pitcher Bert Blyleven made a prediction on Fan Appreciation Day on October 3, saying that if the team came together as a unit and signed some other good players, they could potentially bring a World Series championship to Minnesota. That prediction proved accurate the next year.

Offseason

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Regular season

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On May 30, Roy Smalley Jr. homered from both sides of the plate, the first Twin to do so.

Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game: outfielder Kirby Puckett.

On August 1, Puckett hit for the cycle, the only time he'd do so in his major league career. Going triple, double, single, homer, he became the seventh Twin in history to cycle. On the same night, pitcher Bert Blyleven struck out Oakland's Mike Davis to notch his 3000th strikeout. Only eight other pitchers had reached that plateau.

After a disappointing start, manager Ray Miller was replaced by Tom Kelly on September 12.

Greg Gagne of the Twins hit two inside-the-park home runs in one game on October 4, against the Chicago White Sox.[7] Pitcher Bert Blyleven was on the mound for the Twins; the last time a batter had hit two inside-the-park homers in one game, it was Dick Allen of the White Sox on July 31, 1972, and his homers were hit off Blyleven.

Also on October 4, Blyleven allowed his 50th home run of the season (to Chicago's Daryl Boston) to set a major league record. (When he served up 46 in 1987, he set another record with 96 homers allowed over consecutive seasons.)

Offense

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Kirby Puckett switched from leadoff to third in the batting order, blasted 31 HR, drove in 96 runs and scored 119. Kent Hrbek hit .267 with 29 HR and 91 RBI. Tom Brunansky hit 23 HR and 75 RBI. Gary Gaetti hit .287 with 34 HR and 108 RBI. With Roy Smalley Jr.'s 20 home runs, five players reached 20 homers this season, the first time that happened since six players topped 20 in 1964.

Pitching

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The Twins had three solid starting pitchers: Frank Viola (16-13), Bert Blyleven (17-14), and Mike Smithson (13-14). Reliever Keith Atherton had 10 saves.

Defense

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Third baseman Gary Gaetti and center fielder Kirby Puckett each won their first Gold Glove Award. They were the first Twins to win a gold glove since Jim Kaat in 1973.

Season standings

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AL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
California Angels 92 70 .568 50‍–‍32 42‍–‍38
Texas Rangers 87 75 .537 5 51‍–‍30 36‍–‍45
Kansas City Royals 76 86 .469 16 45‍–‍36 31‍–‍50
Oakland Athletics 76 86 .469 16 47‍–‍36 29‍–‍50
Chicago White Sox 72 90 .444 20 41‍–‍40 31‍–‍50
Minnesota Twins 71 91 .438 21 43‍–‍38 28‍–‍53
Seattle Mariners 67 95 .414 25 41‍–‍41 26‍–‍54

Record vs. opponents

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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore 4–9 6–6 9–3 4–9 1–12 6–6 6–7 8–4 5–8 5–7 6–6 5–7 8–5
Boston 9–4 5–7 7–5 10–3 7–6 6–6 6–6 10–2 5–8 7–5 8–4 8–4 7–6
California 6–6 7–5 7–6 6–6 7–5 8–5 5–7 7–6 7–5 10–3 8–5 8–5 6–6
Chicago 3–9 5–7 6–7 5–7 6–6 7–6 5–7 6–7 6–6 7–6 8–5 2–11 6–6
Cleveland 9–4 3–10 6–6 7–5 4–9 8–4 8–5 6–6 5–8 10–2 9–3 6–6 3–10–1
Detroit 12–1 6–7 5–7 6–6 9–4 5–7 8–5 7–5 6–7 6–6 6–6 7–5 4–9
Kansas City 6–6 6–6 5–8 6–7 4–8 7–5 6–6 6–7 4–8 8–5 5–8 8–5 5–7
Milwaukee 7–6 6–6 7–5 7–5 5–8 5–8 6–6 4–8 8–5 5–7 6–6 4–8 7–6
Minnesota 4–8 2–10 6–7 7–6 6–6 5–7 7–6 8–4 4–8 6–7 6–7 6–7 4–8
New York 8–5 8–5 5–7 6–6 8–5 7–6 8–4 5–8 8–4 5–7 8–4 7–5 7–6
Oakland 7–5 5–7 3–10 6–7 2–10 6–6 5–8 7–5 7–6 7–5 10–3 3–10 8–4
Seattle 6–6 4–8 5–8 5–8 3–9 6–6 8–5 6–6 7–6 4–8 3–10 4–9 6–6
Texas 7–5 4–8 5–8 11–2 6–6 5–7 5–8 8–4 7–6 5–7 10–3 9–4 5–7
Toronto 5–8 6–7 6–6 6–6 10–3–1 9–4 7–5 6–7 8–4 6–7 4–8 6–6 7–5


Notable transactions

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Roster

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1986 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

Player stats

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= Indicates team leader

Batting

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Starters by position

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Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Mark Salas 91 258 60 .233 8 33
1B Kent Hrbek 149 550 147 .267 29 91
2B Steve Lombardozzi 156 453 103 .227 8 33
3B Gary Gaetti 157 596 171 .287 34 108
SS Greg Gagne 156 472 118 .250 12 54
LF Randy Bush 130 357 96 .269 7 45
CF Kirby Puckett 161 680 223 .328 31 96
RF Tom Brunansky 157 593 152 .256 23 75
DH Roy Smalley 143 459 113 .246 20 57

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Other batters

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Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Mickey Hatcher 115 317 88 .278 3 32
Tim Laudner 76 193 46 .244 10 29
Billy Beane 80 183 39 .213 3 15
Jeff Reed 68 165 39 .236 2 9
Ron Washington 48 74 19 .257 4 11
Mark Davidson 36 68 8 .118 0 2
Alvaro Espinoza 37 42 9 .214 0 1
Al Woods 23 28 9 .321 2 8
Chris Pittaro 11 21 2 .095 0 0
Alejandro Sánchez 8 16 2 .125 0 1
Andre David 5 5 1 .200 0 0

Pitching

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Starting pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Bert Blyleven 36 271.2 17 14 4.01 215
Frank Viola 37 245.2 16 13 4.51 191
Mike Smithson 34 198.0 13 14 4.77 114
Neal Heaton 21 124.1 4 9 3.98 66

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Other pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Mark Portugal 27 112.2 6 10 4.31 67
Allan Anderson 21 84.1 3 6 5.55 51
John Butcher 16 70.0 0 3 6.30 29
Bill Latham 7 16.0 0 1 7.31 8

Relief pitchers

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Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Keith Atherton 47 5 8 10 3.75 59
Ron Davis 36 2 6 2 9.08 30
Frank Pastore 33 3 1 2 4.01 18
Roy Lee Jackson 28 0 1 1 3.86 32
Juan Agosto 17 1 2 1 8.85 9
George Frazier 15 1 1 6 4.39 25
Ray Fontenot 15 0 0 0 9.92 10
Roy Smith 5 0 2 0 6.97 8
Pete Filson 4 0 0 0 5.68 4
Dennis Burtt 3 0 0 0 31.50 1

Farm system

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Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Charlie Manuel
AA Orlando Twins Southern League George Mitterwald
A Visalia Oaks California League Danny Schmitz
A Kenosha Twins Midwest League Don Leppert
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters

[13]

Notes

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  1. ^ "Rick Lysander Stats - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  2. ^ Roy Smith at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Jarvis Brown at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ "Billy Beane Stats - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  5. ^ "Dave Engle Stats - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  6. ^ Mike Hart at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ Great Baseball Feats, Facts and Figures, 2008 Edition, p.262, David Nemec and Scott Flatow, A Signet Book, Penguin Group, New York, ISBN 978-0-451-22363-0
  8. ^ "Houston Jimenez Stats - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  9. ^ "Keith Atherton Stats - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  10. ^ Derek Parks at Baseball Reference
  11. ^ "John Butcher Stats - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  12. ^ a b "1986 Minnesota Twins Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  13. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

References

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