Twins avoid dubious history, snap eight-game Opening Day losing streak
The Twins won their opener for the first time in nine years
By
Matt Snyder
•
1 min read
The Minnesota Twins won a baseball game on Opening Day and are now 1-0.
Read that again and let it filter into your psyche, Twins fans, because you haven’t gotten to see similar sentiment in a long time, as you well know.
The Twins had previously lost eight straight opening days and were getting close to a historic streak of futility.
The Twins have lost 8 straight Opening Day games. Could be 4th to hit 9.
— James Smyth (@JamesSmyth621) April 3, 2017
10 2005-14 Athletics
9 1972-80 Braves
9 1893-1901 Giants
It should be noted that those A’s teams were often saddled with facing prime King Felix.
So the Twins avoid joining that group with at least nine straight opening day losses. In and of itself, that’s a very good day. The Twins had a great day overall, though. Miguel Sano homered. Newly-acquired catcher Jason Castro collected a pair of hits, including a two-RBI single that pushed the lead up to 6-1. Ervin Santana allowed only one run on two hits in seven innings and then the bullpen threw up a pair of zeroes as they cruised to a 7-1 victory over the Royals.
It’s only 0.6 percent of the regular season, but the Twins are off to a good start for the first time in almost a decade. That’s worthy of a quick celebration.
