April 15, 2006: Justin Morneau’s clutch single off Mariano Rivera earns Twins a walk-off win

Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau started the 2006 campaign – his second full season in the majors – with a .248 career batting average. After going 1-for-12 in the season-opening series in Toronto, Morneau decided to ditch his 35-inch, 33-ounce cudgel for one of teammate Joe Mauer’s 34-inch, 31-ounce bats.1 The decision paid immediate dividends, as Morneau socked a pair of homers against the Cleveland Indians in his first game with the lighter bat.2

Morneau was still borrowing Mauer’s bats a week later when he recorded a pair of crucial hits and three RBIs on April 15 against the New York Yankees at Minnesota’s Metrodome. The second hit came against Yankees closer Mariano Rivera with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, two runners in scoring position, and the Twins trailing by a run. Morneau fought off one of Rivera’s famous cutters, shattering his lumber into pieces. But the bat died a hero when the ball fell untouched in shallow right field and both runners scored, giving the Twins a thrilling walk-off victory.

The Twins had won three consecutive American League Central Division titles from 2002 to 2004 but were looking to bounce back from a disappointing third-place finish in 2005. After a 1-5 road trip to start the 2006 season, the Twins had won four consecutive games at home, including the opener of a three-game series with the Yankees on April 14. With their record evened at 5-5, they sat just one game behind the division-leading Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians.

Southpaw Johan Santana, the 2004 AL Cy Young Award winner, got the start for Minnesota in the middle game of the series against the Yankees. Santana had posted the lowest ERA of any starting pitcher in the major leagues over the previous three seasons, but he had struggled in his first two starts of 2006, going 0-2 with an uncharacteristic 5.73 ERA.

The Yankees had made the playoffs in 11 consecutive seasons, winning nine AL East Division titles, six pennants, and four World Series championships since 1995. With the oldest team in the majors and a pitching staff full of question marks, some onlookers were doubtful that the team could extend its streak of postseason appearances to 12 straight years.3 At the start of play on April 15, the Yankees were in fourth place with a 5-5 record, two games behind the first-place Boston Red Sox.

Jaret Wright was making his first start of the season for New York and just his 15th appearance since signing a three-year, $21 million free-agent contract in December 2004.4 After missing most of 2005 with a shoulder injury, the 30-year-old righty began the season as the Yankees’ fifth starter.5

The Twins roughed up Wright in the second inning for three earned runs on five hits, a hit-by-pitch, and a passed ball. The Minnesota runs came on an RBI double by Morneau and RBI singles by Juan Castro and Luis Castillo.

Wright opened the fourth by walking Michael Cuddyer and surrendering a single to Castro, putting runners on the corners. Since Wright had given up eight hits and a walk in just three-plus innings, Yankees manager Joe Torre gave him the hook and brought in righty Scott Proctor.6 The Twins added a run on Castillo’s RBI groundout, extending their lead to 4-0.

Santana scattered two singles and two walks in the first four innings before running into trouble in the fifth. The Yankees got on the scoreboard on a single by Robinson Canó, a ground-rule double by Miguel Cairo, and an RBI groundout by Johnny Damon. Derek Jeter’s two-out RBI double plated Cairo and the Twins’ lead was trimmed to 4-2.

Canó opened the seventh with a solid single up the middle that almost knocked Santana over.7 One out later, Damon doubled down the right-field line,8 putting runners on second and third and ending Santana’s night. Righty Jesse Crain came out of the bullpen to face Jeter, who was vigorously serenaded by Twins fans with a chant that was similar to – but less polite than − “Jeter stinks!”9 He ignored the taunts and registered his third hit of the game, a single to center field, scoring both runners and tying the game.

Jeter scored on singles by Gary Sheffield and Álex Rodríguez and suddenly New York was out in front, 5-4. Crain had given up hits to all three batters he faced, so he was yanked in favor of Francisco Liriano. The 22-year-old rookie lefty retired Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada to prevent any further damage.

When the Twins put the potential tying run on first base with one out in the eighth, Torre brought in Rivera for a possible five-out save. The 36-year-old closer had amassed 380 career saves, leaving him just 98 saves behind the all-time leader, Lee Smith.10 He had recorded 35 saves of at least five outs in his career, including two in 2005.11 Rivera got off to a great start, inducing Shannon Stewart to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Castillo led off the bottom of the ninth looking for his fourth hit of the game. After a controversial check-swing on a 1-and-2 count,12 Castillo tapped the ball in front of the plate and beat Rivera’s throw to first for an infield single.13 Mauer, facing Rivera for the first time in his career, worked the count full. With Castillo running, Mauer lined an opposite-field single and left fielder Matsui threw late to third, allowing Mauer – the potential winning run – to move into scoring position on the ill-advised toss.14

In a gutsy move, Torre had his infield play in and Rivera responded by striking out veterans Rondell White and Torii Hunter.15 That brought Morneau to the plate with two outs. The first pitch from Rivera was a cutter, a pitch that regularly broke bats. Morneau fisted it over the head of second baseman Canó and into shallow right field; Castillo scored and Mauer slid home ahead of Sheffield’s throw, sending the 42,316 fans at the Metrodome into a frenzy.16 Although this was the Twins’ first walk-off victory of the season, all six of their triumphs had been come-from-behind wins.

Morneau’s hit was reminiscent of his single against Rivera – a flare into right field on a first-pitch cutter − in the eighth inning of Game Two of the 2004 ALDS,17 which was also the last time Rivera had blown a save against the Twins.18 Rivera’s latest hiccup stunned the Yankees. “He made the perfect pitch,” Rodríguez muttered. “He shatters [Morneau’s] bat in 25 pieces and the ball goes through.”19

It wasn’t the first time Morneau had ruined one of Mauer’s bats. “[Mauer] hasn’t broken a bat yet this year, and I’ve broken six of them,” said Morneau. “But he said as long as I keep getting hits with them, I can keep using ’em.”20

Morneau went on to have a breakout season. The New Westminster, British Columbia, native hit .367 from May 9 to August 4 and he finished the 2006 season with a .321 batting average, 34 homers, and 130 RBIs. The performance earned him the AL MVP and Silver Slugger Awards. Morneau was the first Twin to win the award since Rod Carew in 1977 and the second Canadian player to earn MVP honors.21

Mauer also broke through in 2006, hitting .347 and becoming the first AL catcher to win the batting title. The improvement of Morneau and Mauer, combined with a 109-RBI season from Cuddyer, helped to significantly improve the Twins’ offense, which had been the worst in the league in 2005.

Santana turned the corner soon after his no-decision against the Yankees on April 15. He went on to win the pitchers’ Triple Crown and his second AL Cy Young Award by posting a 19-6 record and a 2.77 ERA with 245 strikeouts. The pitching staff got another boost when Liriano was moved into the starting rotation on May 19. From that point on, Liriano went 11-3 with a 1.92 ERA.22

Despite playing decent ball in the first half, the Twins found themselves 12 games behind the red-hot Tigers on July 15. But Detroit cooled off in the last two months of the season and a surging Minnesota team raised its record to 95-64 with another dramatic come-from-behind walk-off victory on September 28, pulling into a first-place tie with the Tigers.23

The two teams remained deadlocked heading into the final day of the season. The Twins defeated the Chicago White Sox at home – Morneau doubled in the tying run and scored the game-winner on a two-run homer by Hunter – and then the players and fans settled in to watch the conclusion of the Tigers game on the Jumbotron.24 To their delight, Detroit blew a 6-0 lead en route to a 12-inning loss to the lowly Kansas City Royals. The Twins had won their fourth division title in five seasons and the Tigers settled for the wild-card spot.

But the magic of the Twins’ 2006 season soon dissipated. They were swept in the best-of-five division series by the Oakland Athletics, while the Tigers defeated the Yankees in the other ALDS.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com, Stathead.com, and Retrosheet.org. The author also reviewed the SABR biography of Mariano Rivera.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN200604150.shtml   

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2006/B04150MIN2006.htm

Photo credit: Justin Morneau, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Morneau used a 35-inch, 33-ounce bat for most of his major-league career. He continued to use Mauer’s lighter bat when he faced Mariano Rivera − until the Twins traded him to the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 31, 2013. “How Justin Morneau Picked a Bat,” YouTube.com, https://youtu.be/62lfEc2jBDg?si=Z54Y3Ag4DA29LV4m&t=39, accessed May 10, 2024; Joe Christensen, “Morneau Comes Through (with Assist to Mauer),” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 16, 2006: C6; Jon Krawczynski (Associated Press), “Twins Rally to Beat Rivera in 9th Inning,” Binghamton (New York) Press and Sun-Bulletin, April 16, 2006: 1D.

2 Christensen, “Morneau Comes Through (with Assist to Mauer).”

3 The Yankees won the AL East Division title in 2006 with a 97-65 record. Their streak of 13 consecutive postseason appearances was snapped in 2008 when they finished in third place. “American League Preview,” York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record, April 3, 2006: 6D.

4 Wright had given up an earned run in two innings of relief in his only outing of 2006. Peter Abraham, “Yankees Notebook,” White Plains (New York) Journal News, April 15, 2006: 5C.

5 “Yanked Around,” Kansas City Star, June 2, 2005: D5; Abraham, “Yankees Notebook.”

6 Wright went 11-7 with a 4.49 ERA in 2006. On November 12, 2006, he was traded with cash to the Baltimore Orioles for reliever Chris Britton. Wright went 0-3 with a 6.97 ERA in three starts for the Orioles in April 2007. He never pitched in the big leagues again.

7 Krawczynski, “Twins Rally to Beat Rivera in 9th Inning.”

8 Peter Caldera, “Twins Shock Rivera, Yanks,” The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey), April 16, 2006: S1.

9 The Yankees had eliminated the Twins in the ALDS in 2003 and 2004. Jeter hit a combined .364 with two homers and five RBIs in the two series. Sam Borden, “Rocks Yanks,” New York Daily News, April 16, 2006: 43; Caldera, “Twins Shock Rivera, Yanks.”

10 As of April 15, 2006, Rivera was fifth all-time with 380 saves and only 10 saves behind Dennis Eckersley. He moved ahead of Eckersley and into fourth place on June 6. Rivera retired after the 2013 season with 652 career saves. As of 2024, he was the all-time leader in saves.

11 Rivera finished his career with 45 saves in which he recorded at least five outs.

12 The Yankees were adamant that Castillo had gone around, but both home-plate umpire Jerry Layne and third-base umpire Ed Montague ruled that Castillo checked his swing. Instead of a strikeout, the at-bat continued.

13 Peter Abraham, “Twins Get to Rivera,” White Plains (New York) Journal News, April 16, 2006: C1.

14 Wallace Matthews, “Torre’s Guys Take This One Hard,” New York Newsday, April 16, 2006: B3.

15 Christensen, “Morneau Comes Through (with Assist to Mauer).”

16 Abraham, “Twins Get to Rivera.”

17 Video of Morneau’s hit is available on YouTube. “Yankees Fight Back to Win Game 2 of the 2004 ALDS,” YouTube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVzqX-MTO74&t=695s, accessed May 10, 2024; Bob Ryan, “Late Show: New York Does It Again,” Boston Globe, October 7, 2004: C3; Dom Amore, “Yanks’ Rally in 12th Saves Rivera,” Hartford Courant, October 7, 2004: C4.

18 Rivera finished his career 36-for-40 (90 percent) in save opportunities against the Twins in the regular season. In the postseason, he was 5-for-6 (83 percent) in save opportunities against Minnesota.

19 Borden, “Rocks Yanks.”

20 Christensen, “Morneau Comes Through (with Assist to Mauer).”

21 Mauer won the AL MVP Award with the Twins in 2009. Larry Walker was the first Canadian to win an MVP award; he won one in 1997 with the Colorado Rockies. As of the start of the 2024 season, only three Canadians had won the MVP Award in the AL or NL. Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds won the NL MVP Award in 2010.

22 Liriano was one of three Twins to make the All-Star team in 2006. Mauer and Santana were the others. Liriano finished a distant third to Justin Verlander in voting for the AL Rookie of the Year Award.

23 In the September 28 game against the Kansas City Royals, Mauer hit a thrilling two-out solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings. The Twins won it in the 10th on singles by Morneau, White, and Jason Bartlett.

24 Joe Christensen, “Players, Fans Watch Fate Unfold, Share Their Elation,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 2, 2006: C1.