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Monday, September 17, 2018

Twins Walk Off Grand Slams!

"Mr. Becquer, meet Misters Allison, Green & Battey"


Yesterday, Francisco Mejia, Padres catcher, took Jeffrey Springs of the Rangers deep with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off grand slam to defeat the Rangers 7-3. You might recall Mejia was the prized trade chip in the Pad's trade of Minnesota (Chaska) native Brad Hand to the Cleveland Indians on July 19 of this season. So sad Cleveland won't have the benefit of his services in the foreseeable future (Twins fans, insert chuckle here)..


It was MLB's seventh walk-off grand slam of the 2018 season. All of which made me wonder "how many game-winning, walk-off grand slams have been hit in Minnesota Twins history* I thought, there must have been about 5, 6, at least.

* Grand slams hit in the home half of the last half inning that put the home club in the lead, and  which automatically end the game

 I wasn't far off! Basically right on...of course! :D


The actual result of my search? A grand total of FIVE times in 59 seasons of Twins baseball.  Or one every 12 years or so.

By the way aLI (average pressure index) is a Baseball Reference creation alluding to the average pressure factors upon the batter in their individual at bats. Which would say Becquer was feeling a HEAP of stress, perhaps thinking his status with the club in that inaugural Twins season might hinge on that very at bat (see Reusse story below!) . It's also interesting to note the 40 year span from Hall's 1966 bomb until Jason Kubel got the Twins back on the map in the 2000's.

Twins All-Time Walk-off Grand Slams, 1961-2018

Rk Player Date
Opp Rslt HR RBI aLI Pitcher Batter
1Julio Becquer1961-07-04 (1)CHWW 6-4146.990Warren HackerJulio Becquer
2Jimmie Hall1966-08-02BOSW 7-3142.372Don McMahonJimmie Hall
3Jason Kubel2006-06-13BOSW 5-2142.962Julian TavarezJason Kubel
4Joe Crede2009-05-13DETW 14-10142.044Brandon LyonJoe Crede
5Brian Dozier2018-07-15TBRW 11-7145.570Matt AndriesseBrian Dozier
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 9/17/2018.


MLB'S 2018 Walk-off Grand Slams


Results
Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt Pitcher
1Francisco Mejia2018-09-16SDPTEXW 7-3Jeffrey Springs
2David Bote2018-08-12CHCWSNW 4-3Ryan Madson
3Daniel Robertson2018-07-22TBRMIAW 6-4Kyle Barraclough
4Xander Bogaerts2018-07-14BOSTORW 6-2Chris Rowley
5Jose Bautista2018-07-06NYMTBRW 5-1Chaz Roe
7Jason Heyward2018-06-06CHCPHIW 7-5Adam Morgan
Generated 9/17/2018.  - FOR SOME REASON, BBREF WILL NOT LIST DOZIER'S GS
ON JULY 15 IN THE GENERATED REPORT - I HAD TO DO IT MANUALLY
IN THE FIRST CHART.  #CONSPIRACY! #SAD

Yeah, those greedy Cubs have TWO already in 2018!!


See Patrick Reusse's July 3, 2010 Article about Becquer's Grand Slam via the Minneapolis Star Tribune. It is corkin' good!



"So long, everybody!" - Herb Carneal

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