On Oct. 5, 2004, the Minnesota Twins defeated the New York Yankees 2-0 in Game 1 of the American League Division Series. Minnesota starting pitcher Johan Santana pitched seven shutout innings, while outfielders Shannon Stewart and Jacque Jones drove in runs as the AL Central champions kicked off the ALDS with a victory at Yankee Stadium.
Few in attendance could have predicted what would happen next. The Twins would not only lose the final three games of the series, but Minnesota would go nearly 20 years without recording another postseason victory.
That barren run came to an end on Tuesday, when the Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-1 in the opening game of the American League Wild Card Series. The win ended an 18-game postseason losing streak — the longest in the history of North American professional sports.
The last time the Twins won a playoff game…
It should go without saying that Major League Baseball has changed drastically since Minnesota last won a single playoff game.
For example, the Houston Astros were in the National League at the time — they moved to the American League in 2013. Royce Lewis, who homered twice for the Twins on Tuesday, was only five years old when Santana pitched his gem at Yankee Stadium in the 2004 division series.
Speaking of Santana, the 2004 season saw the left-hander win the first of his two American League Cy Young Awards — he last pitched in the major leagues in 2012. Zack Greinke — a future Hall of Fame pitcher who himself won a Cy Young Award in 2009 — had just completed his rookie season.
Perhaps most surprisingly to younger fans, the Boston Red Sox had not yet ended their infamous World Series drought the last time Minnesota won a postseason game. The Red Sox won it all that October, and they’ve since won three more championships.
Lewis makes history
Twins shortstop Lewis was the driving force behind Minnesota‘s win on Tuesday — and he made a unique bit of postseason history in the process.
Lewis, the #1 overall pick in the 2017 MLB Draft, became only the third hitter to slug home runs in his first two postseason plate appearances. He hit a two-run homer off Toronto ace Kevin Gausman in the first inning, and he followed it up with a solo blast off Gausman in the third — providing all of the Twins’ Game 1 scoring and showing America at large that he is a force to be reckoned with.
Read More: World News | Entertainment News | Celeb News
Marca
