Phil Hughes was awesome. 8 innings, 9 strikeouts, 0 walks (natch), but two solo home runs as all King Felix needed as the Seattle Mariners beat the Twins 2-0 in a game played in a little over two hours.
Hernadez was dominant early, taking a perfect game into the 5th inning before Trevor Plouffe hit a solid single. The Twins made some waves in the later innings of the game but could not plate the run. The best chance was in the 6th. Suzuki reached 2nd on a hit/error combo. Moved over to 3rd on an infield single by Jordan Schafer (he made one bunt attempt but whiffed), but Hernandez slammed the door.
One is supposed to cheer for the home team, and perhaps I am underselling how awesome Phil Hughes pitched tonight, but I appreciate good baseball and watching King Felix is pretty darned good. I dont have a MLB package and the Mariners are never on national TV, so I dont get to watch him as often as I would like. Perhaps the M's will be half way good this year and get some national love.
NOTES
- Phil Hughes has 2 complete games as a Twin. Both are 8 inning losses.
-This is Hughes' 4th career complete game. His first complete game was a shutout. But only 6 innings in a rain shortened game.
-Other pitchers with 2 CGs as a Twin: Brian Duensing, LaTroy Hawkins, Livan Hernandez, Les Straker, Luis Tiant, Bill Campbell, and more.
-Schafer's 6th inning infield single broke a 0-21 slump. Perhaps his time as a Twin is done at the end of April.
-This was Hernadez's 24th career complete game and 10th shutout. CC Sabathia lead active players with 38 CGs and Tim Hudson leads with 13 SHO
-The Twins had 5 hits, all singles. This is the third time this year they have been extra baseless.
-The is the third time the Twins have been shutout. The first two happened in Detroit in games 1 and 2.
Perhaps the best news for the rest of this season is the Twins are 6-6 in games Phil Hughes doesn't start. On the other hand, they need to figure out how to score more than 1 run per game for Hughes.
Also of note, neither team used the bench. I wonder how often that happens now.
Good catch.
I tried looking up the last time the Twins were involved in a game where by pitcher threw complete games, but gave up my b-r quest. I had a 5am wakeup call and it was closing in on midnight.
August 27, 2012. Also against King Felix. Lost 1-0 and Liam Hendriks pitched 9 innings. Just one bench player used in the game, a pinch-runner.
The Buehrle/Pavano game from a few years ago was similar. I think just one pinch-something used.
Pavano-Buehrle in 2010 Time of game 1:52!
Pavano-Gavin Floyd in 2011 too. Clocked in at a cool 2:06