May 20, 2015: Joe Mauer clears Clemente Wall in 13th inning, lifts Twins over Pirates

The longest homerless stretch of Joe Mauer’s Hall of Fame career began in August 2014 and carried into 2015, spanning 324 plate appearances and lasting until Mauer’s Minnesota Twins visited the Pittsburgh Pirates on May 20. With the score tied in the top of the 13th inning, Mauer hit Antonio Bastardo’s pitch over PNC Park’s right-field Clemente Wall. The solo homer ended Mauer’s home-run drought and gave the Twins a 4-3 win over the Pirates.

Mauer, selected first overall in the June 2001 amateur draft, reached the majors as Minnesota’s starting catcher in 2004.1 The Twin Cities native won his first of three American League batting titles in 2006 and was named the AL Most Valuable Player in 2009. Several serious injuries and illnesses hindered Mauer’s first decade as a major leaguer,2 but he maintained a high level of play, earning six All-Star selections, five Silver Slugger Awards, and three Gold Gloves from 2006 through 2013.

One injury, however, had a more damaging impact. In August 2013 a foul tip hit Mauer’s mask and gave him a concussion, sidelining him for the rest of the season.3 Concerns about further head injuries caused Mauer to move permanently to first base during the 2013-14 offseason.4 He struggled to a .277 average in 2014, nearly 50 points below his previous lifetime mark.5 He experienced periods of blurred vision, a condition he did not acknowledge publicly until after the 2015 season.6

Even during Mauer’s peak years, home runs were a modest part of his game. His 28-homer season in 2009, the Twins’ last before moving from the Metrodome to Target Field, was the only year he hit more than 13. But he never reached the fences less frequently than in 2014, when he hit just four homers in 120 games. Mauer’s final home run of 2014 came on August 17 against Jeremy Guthrie of the Kansas City Royals.7 He played in 38 more games and batted 155 more times before the end of the season but did not homer again.

When 2015 began, Mauer was Minnesota’s regular first baseman, with occasional appearances at designated hitter. His power struggles continued, clouding his triumphs. The Minneapolis Star Tribune coverage of Mauer’s two-run, go-ahead, 11th-inning triple against the Seattle Mariners on April 26 noted his then-homerless streak of 234 plate appearances while also observing that his .306 slugging percentage trailed all other AL first basemen.8 He surpassed what had been his longest span without a homer, 53 games from September 2010 through July 2011.

The ’15 Twins, led by first-year manager and Hall of Fame player Paul Molitor,9 came to Pittsburgh in mid-May for a two-game weeknight series. On May 19 Mauer went homerless for the 76th game a row, but his three-run single off former Twin Francisco Liriano broke the game open in the second inning.10 Trevor Plouffe followed with a two-run homer, and the six-run inning left Minnesota comfortably ahead for an 8-5 win.11 The Twins had won 21 of their last 32 games and were third in the AL Central Division, three games behind the Royals.

Left-hander Jeff Locke was Pittsburgh’s starter in the series’ second game. The Pirates had contended for the National League Central Division title in 2013 and 2014 before making the postseason as a wild card,12 but they were already eight games off the division pace.

Minnesota shortstop Danny Santana led off the first inning with a double over the first-base bag. One out later, Mauer fell behind 0-and-2, worked the count even, and hit a bouncer off the pitcher’s mound. Shortstop Jordy Mercer grabbed the ball before it reached the outfield, but Mauer had a single and Santana took third.

Plouffe walked to load the bases. Torii Hunter, in his 19th big-league season and two months from his 40th birthday,13 took two balls, then lined Locke’s pitch off the wall in right, near the foul line. All three Twins scored for a 3-0 lead.

The Pirates got a run back in their half of the first when Starling Marte’s two-out double, which rolled between Mauer and the first-base bag, scored Neil Walker from second. Veteran right-hander Mike Pelfrey held Pittsburgh in check after that, facing one over the minimum of 15 batters from the second inning through the sixth. Twice, Josh Harrison led off innings with singles, but he was caught trying to steal second in the third and was doubled off first on Walker’s liner in the sixth.

Locke settled down after his 36-pitch first and completed six innings. Pelfrey, batting for himself with the designated hitter not in use in an NL park,14 was an unlikely antagonist with singles in the second and fourth.15 Pirate defense aided Locke: Marte threw out Plouffe attempting to take third on Hunter’s single to left in the third, and Mercer turned Santana’s fourth-inning grounder into a double play with Twins at the corners. Mauer grounded out in the third and fifth innings.

The Twins pinch-hit for Pelfrey in the seventh,16 and righty Ryan Pressly was the first man out of Molitor’s bullpen after the seventh-inning stretch.17 One-out walks to Pedro Álvarez and Francisco Cervelli set up the Pirates with a scoring opportunity. Sean Rodríguez, batting for Mercer, hit a slow grounder to third, and Plouffe picked up the force at second.

With runners at the corners, two outs, and the pitcher’s spot due, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle called on lefty Gregory Polanco. Molitor summoned left-hander Aaron Thompson,18 and Hurdle responded with righty-swinging José Tábata. Tábata lined Thompson’s two-strike breaking ball into center for a single, scoring Álvarez to make it a one-run game.

Jared Hughes had begun Pittsburgh’s relief effort with a one-two-three seventh, and Tony Watson followed with a scoreless eighth. Minnesota set-up man Blaine Boyer entered in the bottom of the eighth. He retired the first Pirate he faced, but Andrew McCutchen homered into the seats in right center to tie the game. McCutchen’s fifth home run of 2015 – and 61st lifetime at PNC Park, equaling former Pirate Jason Bay for the most of any player19 – was the first run Boyer had allowed in 18 innings.

The bullpens held the stalemate into the night. Pirates closer Mark Melancon threw a scoreless ninth and Rob Scahill put up two more zeros in the 10th and 11th. When hard-throwing Arquimedes Caminero dispatched the Twins on six pitches in the 12th, the Pirates had their 11th consecutive scoreless inning. Mauer grounded out twice more, in the eighth and 10th.

The Twins had turned to righty J.R. Graham, on their roster as a December 2014 Rule 5 draft selection. Appearing in his 13th major-league game, the 25-year-old Graham held the Pirates scoreless from the ninth through the 11th. Pittsburgh’s only baserunner against Graham was on McCutchen’s one-out 10th-inning single, but catcher Kurt Suzuki threw out McCutchen stealing as Marte struck out, ending the inning.

Minnesota’s Brian Duensing matched Caminero with a clean 12th, and the game moved to the top of the 13th. Bastardo, a veteran lefty who had come to Pittsburgh in a December 2014 trade with the Philadelphia Phillies, was the seventh Pirates pitcher of the night.

Brian Dozier popped up to begin the inning, bringing up Mauer. After his first-inning single, Mauer had grounded out four times, and none of his five plate appearances had resulted in a ball out of the infield.

It was approaching 11 P.M. Many of the remaining members of the school-night crowd of 21,718 deployed blankets, jackets, and hoods against the chilly weather. Mauer wanted a pitch to hit to the opposite field.20 Bastardo’s first offering was a strike.

Cervelli positioned his catcher’s mitt for an outside pitch. Bastardo threw a slider,21 which hung high and inside.

Mauer pulled it to deep right. The ball cleared PNC Park’s wall – standing 21 feet high in honor of legendary Pittsburgh right fielder Roberto Clemente’s uniform number – and landed in the seats. Mauer had his first home run in 77 games,22 and Minnesota had regained the lead, 4-3.

Twins closer Glen Perkins – like Mauer and Molitor, a native of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area – came in for the bottom of the 13th. The Pirates put two runners on with two outs, but Álvarez fanned to cap Perkins’ majors-best 15th save.23

“Much has been said about [Mauer’s home-run drought],” Molitor said afterward. “I hope his timing on the next one was as good as it was tonight.”24

Mauer went on to hit 10 home runs in 2015; it was one of seven seasons in his 15-year career with a homer total between 9 and 11. The ’15 Twins reached first place in the AL Central briefly in May and June but came in second, 12 games behind the eventual World Series champion Royals.25 Retiring after the 2018 season with a .306 batting average, 2,123 hits, and 143 home runs, Mauer was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2024.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Gary Belleville and copy-edited by Len Levin. SABR members Gary Belleville and Kurt Blumenau provided insightful comments on an earlier version of this article.

Photo credit: Joe Mauer, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play. He also reviewed game coverage in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review newspapers; and a recording of the Root Sports Pittsburgh television broadcast posted on YouTube. Jay Jaffe’s 2023 Fangraphs.com article, “JAWS and the 2024 Hall of Fame Ballot: Joe Mauer,” provided a helpful overview of Mauer’s life and career.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT201505200.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2015/B05200PIT2015.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHSAJMh2tXE

Notes

1 Jim Souhan, “The Lock,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 4, 2004: T4.

2 Jay Jaffe, “JAWS and the 2024 Hall of Fame Ballot: Joe Mauer,” Fangraphs.com, December 1, 2023, https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jaws-and-the-2024-hall-of-fame-ballot-joe-mauer/; Jim Souhan, “What a Low Blow: After Two Games With Twins, Mauer Needs Knee Surgery,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 8, 2004: C1; Joe Christensen, “Leg Injury Sapping Mauer of Ability to Hit for Power,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 26, 2007: C16; Sid Hartman, “Smith Worried About Reliever, Not Mauer,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 6, 2009: C3; La Velle E. Neal III, “Mauer on Track for Return Next Week,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 21, 2009: C1; La Velle E. Neal III, “Mauer on DL Adds to Pain,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 15, 2011: C1; La Velle E. Neal III, “Mauer out Again – This Time for Good,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 17, 2011: C1.

3 Phil Miller, “Final Week Lost, But Mauer Vows to Return to Catching,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 24, 2013: C1.

4 Phil Miller, “Mauer Makes a Career Move from Catcher to First Baseman,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 12, 2013: C1.

5 Phil Miller,” Mauer Still Catches Trouble,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 28, 2014: C10.

6 Jim Souhan, “With Mauer’s Health, the Outlook Is Always a Bit Blurry,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, February 24, 2016: C1.

7 La Velle E. Neal III, “Royals Pour On Offense, Rock Milone,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, August 18. 2014: C1.

8 La Velle E. Neal III, “Showing a Growth Spurt,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 27, 2015: C5.

9 Molitor, like Mauer, was a native of St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1986 his high school, the all-boys Cretin High School, merged with another high school, the all-girls Derham Hall, to form Cretin-Derham Hall High School, which Mauer attended.

10 With the count full and two outs, Mauer hit an opposite-field single to left. Shane Robinson scored easily from third and Danny Santana came home from second. When Pittsburgh left fielder Starling Marte was slow to return the ball to the infield, Brian Dozier, running with the pitch, hustled around to score from first. La Velle E. Neal III, “Twins Feast on ‘Bad Frankie’: Two Innings Were Enough to Chase Francisco Liriano,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 20, 2015: C1.

11 Stephen J. Nesbitt, “Bad Start Leads to Ugly Finish: Liriano Lasts 55 Pitches, Puts Offense in Hole It Can’t Escape in Return Home,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 20, 2015: F-1.

12 In 2013 the Pirates finished three games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central Division. They beat the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Wild Card Game but lost the NL Division Series to the Cardinals in five games. St. Louis finished two games ahead of Pittsburgh in 2014. The Pirates lost the NL Wild Card Game to the eventual World Series champion San Francisco Giants.

13 Hunter, a five-time All-Star, nine-time Gold Glove winner, and two-time Silver Slugger, had spent the first 11 seasons of his career with the Twins from 1997 through 2007. After playing for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Detroit Tigers, he returned to Minnesota as a free agent for 2015, which turned out to be his final big-league season. La Velle E. Neal III, “Torii’s Career Comes Full Circle,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 4, 2014: C1.

14 In regular-season interleague play from 1997 through 2019, and also in 2021, the designated hitter was used in AL parks only.

15 Pelfrey was the first Twins pitcher with a two-hit game since Carl Pavano against the New York Mets in June 2010.

16 Before the Twins batted in the seventh, PNC Park celebrated recently retired Pittsburgh Steelers great Troy Polamalu, who was in attendance, with a scoreboard highlight video. Associated Press, “Joe Mauer’s Homer Lifts Twins to 4-3 Win Over Pirates in 13th Inning,” Latrobe (Pennsylvania) Bulletin, May 21, 2015: 12. Polamalu spent his entire 12-season National Football League career as a safety for the Steelers, playing on Super Bowl championship teams in 2006 and 2009, making eight Pro Bowls, and being selected for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020. His second cousin, Blake Sabol, made his major-league debut with the San Francisco Giants in 2023.

17 Associated Press, “Joe Mauer’s Homer Lifts Twins to 4-3 Win Over Pirates in 13th Inning.”

18 Thompson had made his major-league debut by making four appearances for the Pirates in 2011. He was in the minor leagues for the next two seasons before joining the Twins in 2014.

19 Bill West, “Mauer’s 13th Inning Homer Spells Doom for Pirates in Home Loss,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 20, 2015, https://archive.triblive.com/sports/pirates/mauers-13th-inning-homer-spells-doom-for-pirates-in-home-loss/. As of May 23, 2024, McCutchen’s 102 homers at PNC Park led all players.

20 La Velle E. Neal III, “Mauer Power Reappears: Home Run Drought Ends After 76 Games With Game-Winning, 13th-Inning Blast,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 21, 2015: C1.

21 Bill Brink, “Double Downer: Mauer’s Homer in 13th Gives Twins 2-Game Sweep in Interleague Series,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 21, 2015: C-1.

22 Mauer’s 324 plate appearance home-run drought included two plate appearances after hitting a home run on August 17, 2014; 153 plate appearances from August 18, 2014, through the end of the 2014 season; 164 plate appearances from Opening Day 2015 through May 19, 2015; and his first five plate appearances in this game.

23 Perkins finished 2015 with 32 saves, eighth best in the AL. He made the AL All-Star team for the third season in a row.

24 Neal, “Mauer Power Reappears.”

25 The 2015 Pirates again finished second in the NL Central Division, two games behind the Cardinals. Their 98 wins were their most since 1991. The Pirates lost the NL Wild Card Game to the Chicago Cubs.