1986 Minnesota Twins season

The 1986 Minnesota Twins finished at 71–91, sixth in the AL West, 21 games behind the eventual AL 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.

1986 Minnesota Twins
71-91, sixth in the AL Western Division
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901) Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (since 1982) Minneapolis, Minnesota (since 1961)
Results
Record	71–91 (.438)
Divisional place	6th
Other information
Owner(s)	Carl Pohlad
General manager(s)	Andy MacPhail
Manager(s)	Ray Miller, Tom Kelly
Local television	KMSP-TV (Bob Kurtz, Harmon Killebrew)
Local radio	830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Joe Angel)
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Offseason

• December 20, 1985: Rick Lysander was released by the Twins.^[1]
• January 7, 1986: Ken Schrom and Bryan Oelkers were traded by the Twins to the Cleveland Indians for Roy Smith and Ramón Romero.^[2]
• January 14, 1986: Jarvis Brown was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (9th pick) of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft. Player signed May 23, 1986.^[3]
• January 16, 1986: Tim Teufel and Pat Crosby (minors) were traded by the Twins to the New York Mets for Billy Beane, Joe Klink and Bill Latham.^[4]
• January 16, 1986: Dave Engel was traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Detroit Tigers for Chris Pittaro and Alejandro Sánchez.^[5]
• March 31, 1986: Mike Hart was traded by the Twins to the Baltimore Orioles for Ben Bianchi (minors), Steve Padia (minors), and a player to be named later. The Orioles completed the deal by sending Jeff Hubbard (minors) to the Twins on April 23.^[6]

Regular season

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

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

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

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

v t e AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
California Angels	92	70	0.568	—	50–32	42–38
Texas Rangers	87	75	0.537	5	51–30	36–45
Kansas City Royals	76	86	0.469	16	45–36	31–50
Oakland Athletics	76	86	0.469	16	47–36	29–50
Chicago White Sox	72	90	0.444	20	41–40	31–50
Minnesota Twins	71	91	0.438	21	43–38	28–53
Seattle Mariners	67	95	0.414	25	41–41	26–54

Record vs. opponents

1986 American League record v t e 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

• April 8, 1986: Houston Jiménez was released by the Twins.^[8]
• May 20, 1986: Keith Atherton was traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later and cash. The Minnesota Twins sent Eric Broersma (minors) (May 23, 1986) to the Oakland Athletics to complete the trade.^[9]
• June 2, 1986: Derek Parks was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (10th pick) of the 1986 Major League Baseball draft.^[10]
• June 20, 1986: John Butcher was traded by the Twins to the Cleveland Indians for Neal Heaton.^[11]

Roster

1986 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers 30 Juan Agosto 49 Allan Anderson 22 Keith Atherton 28 Bert Blyleven 17 Dennis Burtt 32 John Butcher 39 Ron Davis 23 Pete Filson 37 Ray Fontenot 39 George Frazier 32 Neal Heaton 23 Roy Lee Jackson 35 Bill Latham 33 Frank Pastore 36 Mark Portugal 19 Roy Smith 48 Mike Smithson 16 Frank Viola		Catchers 15 Tim Laudner 10 Jeff Reed 12 Mark Salas Infielders  1 Alvaro Espinoza  8 Gary Gaetti 31 Greg Gagne 14 Kent Hrbek  4 Steve Lombardozzi  2 Chris Pittaro  5 Roy Smalley 38 Ron Washington		Outfielders 20 Billy Beane 24 Tom Brunansky 25 Randy Bush 27 Mark Davidson  9 Mickey Hatcher 34 Kirby Puckett 18 Alejandro Sánchez Other batters 21 Andre David 11 Alvis Woods		Manager 41 Tom Kelly 44 Ray Miller Coaches 41 Tom Kelly  6 Tony Oliva 43 Rick Stelmaszek 42 Dick Such 45 Wayne Terwilliger

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Batting

Starters by position

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

^[12]

Other batters

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

Starting pitchers

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

^[12]

Other pitchers

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

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

See also: Minor League Baseball

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

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. "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

• Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com
• Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com