That breeze from Kansas City last night?
It was the Twins striking out in droves. A total of 16 on the night.
As MLB.com pointed out, the Twins tied for the third-most in franchise history in a nine-inning game.
In 1972, Nolan Ryan struck out the Twins 17 times in one game. In 1995, Randy Johnson fanned 18 Twins.
The fact that six Royals pitchers — led by starter Danny Duffy — logged all those K’s instead of future Hall of Famers is besides the point.
What matters: Minnesota is whiffing its way to the franchise record for strikeouts in a single season.
As FSN’s Tyler Mason points out, the Twins have already racked up 993 strikeouts in 111 games. Factor that out over the rest of the year, and Minnesota is on pace to strike out 1,361 times.
The club record, set in 1997, is 1,121.
As for the players striking out the most, here’s the Twins Top 5 so far this year, according to baseballreference.com:
Aaron Hicks: 84 strikeouts in 81 games.
Joe Mauer: 81 strikeouts in 101 games.
Justin Morneau: 78 strikeouts in 105 games.
Josh Willingham: 77 strikeouts in 70 games.
Oswaldo Arcia: 75 strikeouts in 65 games.
