The Shutout Kings In Twins Pitching History

Jim Gensheimer/Bay Area News Group

Ervin Santana has thrown three complete game shutouts to date in 2017, as he whitewashed the Giants last night (BBRef boxscore). Now, all he has to do is notch 6 more to tie the all-time, Twins single season record set by Blyleven in 1973.

And, if we're using shutouts as a guage of dominance, the below chart could be used to evaluate the greatest pitching seasons in club history. Blyleven as a 22 year-old in 1973, good god!

Top Individual Shutout Seasons

Rk	Player	SHO	Year	Age	G	GS	CG	W	L	IP	H	R	ER	SO	ERA	FIP	ERA+
1	BERT BLYLEVEN	9	1973	22	40	40	25	20	17	325.0	296	109	91	258	2.52	2.32	156
2	Camilo Pascual	8	1961	27	35	33	15	15	16	252.1	205	114	97	221	3.46	3.39	122
3	Dean Chance	6	1968	27	43	39	15	16	16	292.0	224	96	82	234	2.53	2.20	124
4	Mudcat Grant	6	1965	29	41	39	14	21	7	270.1	252	107	99	142	3.30	3.78	108
5	Geoff Zahn	5	1980	34	38	35	13	14	18	232.2	273	138	114	96	4.41	3.75	99
6	Bert Blyleven	5	1971	20	38	38	17	16	15	278.1	267	95	87	224	2.81	2.51	126
7	Dean Chance	5	1967	26	41	39	18	20	14	283.2	244	109	86	220	2.73	2.56	128
8	Camilo Pascual	5	1962	28	34	33	18	20	11	257.2	236	100	95	206	3.32	2.99	123
9	Jim Kaat	5	1962	23	39	35	16	18	14	269.0	243	106	94	173	3.14	3.48	130
10	Frank Viola	4	1984	24	35	35	10	18	12	257.2	225	101	92	149	3.21	3.92	131
11	Dave Goltz	4	1976	27	36	35	13	14	14	249.1	239	113	93	133	3.36	3.45	107
12	Jim Kaat	4	1971	32	39	38	15	13	14	260.1	275	104	96	137	3.32	2.81	107
13	Jim Perry	4	1970	34	40	40	13	24	12	278.2	258	112	94	168	3.04	3.08	125
14	Jim Merritt	4	1967	23	37	28	11	13	7	227.2	196	72	64	161	2.53	2.81	138
15	Ervin Santana	3	2017	34	13	13	3	8	3	90.0	47	23	22	63	2.20	4.43	195
16	Rich Robertson	3	1996	27	36	31	5	7	17	186.1	197	113	106	114	5.12	5.50	100
17	Scott Erickson	3	1992	24	32	32	5	13	12	212.0	197	86	80	101	3.40	4.22	119
18	Scott Erickson	3	1991	23	32	32	5	20	8	204.0	189	80	72	108	3.18	3.76	135
19	Bert Blyleven	3	1986	35	36	36	16	17	14	271.2	262	134	121	215	4.01	4.33	107
20	Mike Smithson	3	1985	30	37	37	8	15	14	257.0	264	134	124	127	4.34	4.05	100

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 6/10/2017.

                  ABOVE - 1972 Topps Twins - click image for gigantic view

The '72 Twins were an embarrassment of riches, and the fact that staffs in that era could send multiple starters out to achieve this outcome is a pretty succinct testimony to what a low scoring time it was. To wit: Dick Allen led the American League that season (BBRef hitting leaders link) with 37 homeruns. A gaudy number, that was.

Rk	Year	Lg	#Matching	Twins Staffs With Pitchers Posting Three Or More  Shutouts in a single season
1	1972	AL	3	Bert Blyleven / Ray Corbin / Dick Woodson
2	1967	AL	3	Dave Boswell / Dean Chance / Jim Merritt
3	1976	AL	2	Dave Goltz / Bill Singer
4	1973	AL	2	Bert Blyleven / Joe Decker
5	1971	AL	2	Bert Blyleven / Jim Kaat
6	1966	AL	2	Mudcat Grant / Jim Kaat
7	1963	AL	2	Camilo Pascual / Dick Stigman
8	1962	AL	2	Jim Kaat / Camilo Pascual
9	1961	AL	2	Camilo Pascual / Pedro Ramos
10	2017	AL	1	Ervin Santana
11	1996	AL	1	Rich Robertson
12	1992	AL	1	Scott Erickson
13	1991	AL	1	Scott Erickson
14	1986	AL	1	Bert Blyleven
15	1985	AL	1	Mike Smithson
16	1984	AL	1	Frank Viola
17	1980	AL	1	Geoff Zahn
18	1975	AL	1	Bert Blyleven
19	1974	AL	1	Bert Blyleven
20	1970	AL	1	Jim Perry

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

Generated 6/10/2017.

"So Long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal