September 25, 1985: Bert Blyleven wins Twins’ 2,000th victory, 13 seasons after winning No. 1,000 for team

On July 12, 1972, 21-year-old Bert Blyleven threw a five-hit complete game as the Minnesota Twins beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-1. It was the Twins’ 1,000th victory since they moved from Washington, D.C., to Minnesota prior to the 1961 season.1

Fast-forward to September 1985. Blyleven was 34 and had spent most of the intervening seasons with other teams, but had returned to Minnesota the previous month in a deal with the Cleveland Indians.2

On September 25, Blyleven took the mound against the Texas Rangers with a chance to record another milestone – the Twins’ 2,000th victory. The future Hall of Famer was remarkably consistent in his pursuit of posterity. Once again he scattered five hits and one run in a complete-game win, this time by a 5-1 score, securing another niche in franchise history.3

The Wednesday night game at Arlington Stadium drew only 5,932 fans, a testament to its meaningless nature. Even on the heels of a five-game winning streak, the Rangers entered at 57-93, in last place in the American League West Division, 27½ games out. The team had gotten off to a 9-23 start under manager Doug Rader and hadn’t turned things around under Rader’s replacement, Bobby Valentine, playing sub-.500 ball in every month of the season. In the 25 seasons since their creation as the expansion Washington Senators in 1961,4 the Rangers had never reached the postseason; they wouldn’t get there until 1996.5

The Twins had also switched managers earlier in the season, swapping out Billy Gardner in favor of longtime Baltimore Orioles pitching coach Ray Miller. That move, too, had paid limited returns. The Twins entered the day at 69-82, sixth in the AL West, 16 games out. They’d swept Texas in a three-game series a week earlier but had lost the first of another three-game set with the Rangers the previous night, 5-0.

The Twins hadn’t made the postseason since 1969-70, when they won back-to-back division titles, only to be swept by the Orioles in both years’ AL Championship Series.6 That said, a brighter future was on display in September 1985 for those with the vision to imagine it. All but one of the Twins who appeared on September 25 later played for the 1987 team that captured the AL pennant and the World Series.7

Blyleven had gone 9-11 with a 3.26 ERA in 23 starts with Cleveland and entered with a 5-5 record and 3.52 ERA in 11 starts with Minnesota. Since leaving the Twins in a June 1976 trade to the Rangers, the Dutch-born curveball artist had pitched his only career no-hitter in 1977, won a World Series with the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, and pitched in his second of two All-Star Games.8 He’d been a nemesis to the Rangers in 1985, winning all four of his starts against them while with Cleveland.9 “He’s a great pitcher and he’ll certainly help with the young pitchers,” Miller said when the Twins reacquired him.10

Starting on the mound for the Rangers was 24-year-old Jeff Russell, who’d joined the Rangers in July in a trade that sent Buddy Bell to the Cincinnati Reds.11 Russell had led the National League in losses in 1984 with 18 and was faring little better in the AL. He entered the game with a 2-5 record and a 9.21 ERA. The Rangers converted Russell to a reliever the following year; between 1989 and 1993, he recorded 30 saves in a season four times.12

Lefty-hitting Oddibe McDowell, usually the Rangers’ center fielder, was coming back from a hamstring pull.13 He started at designated hitter, making room for lefty-swinging Bob Jones and Duane Walker to start in right field and left field respectively against the righty Blyleven.14 Rookie McDowell, the youngest player in the Texas lineup, was about a month shy of 10 years old when Blyleven pitched the Twins’ 1,000th victory in July 1972.15

Russell got off to a hot start in the first, striking out future Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett, Roy Smalley, and Kent Hrbek in order. The second inning proved more challenging. With two outs, Randy Bush, Gary Gaetti, and Mark Salas hit consecutive singles. Salas’s hit scored Bush to give the Twins a 1-0 advantage.

Blyleven allowed the Rangers only one baserunner in the first three innings, a leadoff walk to Wayne Tolleson in the first. Tolleson was later caught stealing. Tolleson reached base again in the fourth on a leadoff single, the Rangers’ first hit. Blyleven retired Don Slaught and got Pete O’Brien to ground into a double play.

The Twins widened their lead in the fifth inning, led by the bat and legs of rookie second baseman and ninth-place hitter Steve Lombardozzi, who entered the game hitting .296 in limited duty. With one out, Lombardozzi bounced a single off third baseman Steve Buechele’s glove and stole second.16 Puckett drew a walk, then Lombardozzi and Puckett took third and second on a double steal. Smalley’s single to right scored both runners, giving Minnesota a 3-0 lead.

The three steals were uncharacteristic of the Twins, who stole just 68 bases for the full season in 1985, second-least in the AL. “Speed doesn’t usually win our ballgames,” Miller said later. “When you’re ahead you can use speed.”17

The Rangers collected two of their hits, and their only run, in the bottom of the fifth. McDowell led off with a home run to right field, his 18th and last of the season, to bring the Rangers within 3-1. One out later, Jones singled, taking advantage of a rare opportunity: He started only 22 of his 83 games in 1985, making 47 appearances as a pinch-hitter. Walker and Buechele stranded Jones with a fly ball to right and a foul pop to the catcher.

The Rangers moved a runner into scoring position in the sixth on Curt Wilkerson’s leadoff single and two-out steal of second, but could not drive him in. Other than McDowell, Wilkerson was the only Ranger to reach second base.18

The score stayed 3-1 with no significant offensive developments on either side until the top of the ninth, with righty Dwayne Henry on the mound for Texas. Salas hit a one-out double that Jones couldn’t catch in right field; Salas then scored on Lombardozzi’s single.19 Trying to pick Lombardozzi off first, Henry threw the ball away, allowing the runner to advance to third.20 Puckett’s groundout to shortstop brought Lombardozzi home for a 5-1 Minnesota lead.

Blyleven faced the Rangers’ second through fourth hitters in the bottom of the ninth. Slaught grounded to third and O’Brien and McDowell flied to center, ending the game in 2 hours and 33 minutes. Blyleven’s combined season record improved to 15-16, while Russell’s dropped to 2-6. With four strikeouts, Blyleven passed another future Hall of Famer, Jim Bunning, and moved into 10th place on the all-time strikeout list with 2,860.21

The win made Blyleven the first pitcher to beat the Rangers five times in a season since 1972, the team’s first year in Texas, when Stan Bahnsen of the Chicago White Sox turned the trick. “He’s a very good pitcher. We’ll have to get even with him next year,” Valentine said. “We battled him the whole time. He just made good pitches. He got behind in the count, but he still got us out.”22 Valentine also theorized that his hitters were too on guard for Blyleven’s famous curveball, setting them up for his fastball.23

Blyleven and pitching coach Dick Such said they had worked together to stabilize Blyleven’s pitching rhythm and pace after his previous start, in which he surrendered a grand slam to Steve Balboni of the Kansas City Royals. “You try to keep things working properly but it can be hard because we’re not robots,” the pitcher said.24 Blyleven also credited his offense. “We scored the runs tonight,” he told reporters. “I can win with runs like tonight.”25

Blyleven ended 1985 with a record of 17-16 and led the AL in starts (37), complete games (24), shutouts (5), innings pitched (293⅔), and strikeouts (206). He finished third in Cy Young Award voting.26 In the Twins’ championship season of 1987, he won two games in the AL Championship Series, including the Game Five clincher, as well as Game Two of the World Series. Blyleven pitched until 199227 and closed his career with a 287-250 record. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2011.

Given Blyleven’s penchant for recording historic wins, it would be fitting to report that he strolled back into the Twins’ clubhouse to pick up franchise victories number 3,000, 4,000, and 5,000 with complete-game five-hitters. As a member of the Twins’ TV announcing team, he worked the first two milestones from the broadcast booth; the wins on the mound, however, went to Mike Lincoln – who won victory 3,000 against the New York Yankees on May 4, 1999 – and Kevin Slowey, who picked up win number 4,000 against the Indians on September 12, 2010.28 Franchise win number 5,000 was the first not to involve Blyleven as pitcher or broadcaster. Pablo López claimed that milestone victory on June 29, 2024, beating the Seattle Mariners, 5-1.29

Acknowledgments

This story was fact-checked by Larry DeFillipo and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference and Retrosheet for general background information on players, teams, games, and seasons.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TEX/TEX198509250.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1985/B09250TEX1985.htm

Photo credit: Bert Blyleven, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 2022 Minnesota Twins media guide: 88. Accessed via twinstrivia.com in January 2024. https://twinstrivia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-Minnesota-Twins-Media-GuideV2.pdf

2 Full terms: Blyleven to Minnesota; Jay Bell, Curt Wardle, Jim Weaver, and Rich Yett to the Indians.

3 2022 Minnesota Twins media guide: 88.

4 The Twins and Rangers share roots in Washington, D.C. The Twins played there from 1901 to 1960, under the names Senators and Nationals. After the Twins’ departure was announced, the American League created an expansion franchise, also called the Senators, to begin play in 1961. This team moved to Texas after the 1971 season and became the Rangers.

5 The 1994 Rangers might have broken the streak: Despite a 52-62 record, they were in first place in the AL West when a players’ strike ended the season in August, canceling the postseason.

6 As a 19-year-old rookie, Blyleven pitched two innings of relief in Game Three of the 1970 ALCS.

7 The only Twins player on September 25, 1985, who did not play for the team in 1987 was left fielder Mickey Hatcher, who was released by the Twins in March 1987 and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hatcher consoled himself by winning a World Series ring with the 1988 Dodgers. One other Twin who appeared in the September 25 game played for the team in 1987, but was not around for the World Series. Catcher Mark Salas appeared in 22 games that season before being traded to the New York Yankees in June for Joe Niekro.

8 Blyleven pitched in the All-Star Game in 1973 and 1985. The latter game was played at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.

9 While pitching for Cleveland in 1985, Blyleven threw complete-game wins against the Rangers on May 3, May 12, July 9, and July 24.

10 Howard Sinker, “Twins Get Blyleven,” Minneapolis Star and Tribune, August 2, 1985: 1D.

11 Full terms of the trade: Bell to the Reds; Russell and Duane Walker to the Rangers.

12 Russell won the Sporting News AL Fireman of the Year and AL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year awards in 1989, when he saved a league-leading 38 games for the Rangers.

13 Jim Reeves, “Blyleven in New Uniform, but Still ‘Owns’ Rangers,” Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram, September 26, 1985: 9C.

14 Righty-hitting Gary Ward, most frequently the Rangers’ left fielder, started in center field.

15 McDowell was born on August 25, 1962.

16 “Twins Scorecard,” Minneapolis Star and Tribune, September 26, 1985: 3D.

17 Associated Press, “Blyleven Extends Hex Over Texas,” St. Cloud (Minnesota) Times, September 26, 1985: 1D. For the full season, the Boston Red Sox were last in the AL with 66 stolen bases. The league average was 104 stolen bases, and the league-leading New York Yankees stole 155.

18 Reeves, “Blyleven in New Uniform, but Still ‘Owns’ Rangers.”

19 Howard Sinker, “Blyleven Slows Down; Twins Beat Texas,” Minneapolis Star and Tribune, September 26, 1985: 3D.

20 “How They Scored,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, September 26, 1985: 9C.

21 Associated Press, “Blyleven Extends Hex Over Texas.”

22 United Press International, “Blyleven Stymies Texas Again, 5-1,” Plano (Texas) Daily Star-Courier, September 26, 1985: 8.

23 Reeves, “Blyleven in New Uniform, but Still ‘Owns’ Rangers.”

24 Sinker, “Blyleven Slows Down; Twins Beat Texas.”

25 Associated Press, “Blyleven Extends Hex Over Texas.”

26 The winner was Bret Saberhagen of the World Series champion Kansas City Royals.

27 Blyleven missed the entire 1991 season with injury.

28 2022 Minnesota Twins media guide: 88. Blyleven retired from the Twins’ TV broadcasts in 2020. Jeremiah Jacobsen, “Longtime Twins Broadcaster Bert Blyleven Hangs Up the Mic,” KARE-TV, posted September 2, 2020. https://www.kare11.com/article/sports/mlb/twins/longtime-twins-broadcaster-bert-blyleven-hangs-up-the-mic/89-14e2813e-1ce1-4699-829e-73f1f89f2295.

29 Nolan O’Hara, “Buxton’s Three-Run Homer Brings 5,000th Win as Twins Top Mariners,” Sports Illustrated (si.com), June 30, 2024, https://www.si.com/mlb/twins/minnesota-twins-news/buxton-s-three-run-homer-brings-5-000th-win-as-twins-top-mariners-01j1knxafkqr.