1980 Minnesota Twins season
The 1980 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The Twins finished 77–84, third in the American League West. 769,206 fans attended Twins games, the lowest total in the American League. Regular season. On May 31, outfielder Ken Landreaux went 0 for 4, ending his hitting streak at 31 games. This set a Minnesota Twins record that has yet to be topped. Landreaux tripled three times July 3, in a 10-3 win over the Texas Rangers, to tie an American League record. This Twins record remained untouched until Denard Span matched it on  June 29, 2010. Landreaux, a Los Angeles native, is the only Twins player to make the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium. One of the club's most unusual games was played in Toronto on Thursday, August 28, a game in which one player was replaced after being injured in a car crash during the game and that featured a rare save by a Twins starting pitcher. A game that ended with the Blue Jays' mound ace playing left field. The Canadian National Exhibition (like a state fair) was set up adjacent to Exhibition Stadium. Because of a schedule evening  concert by the rock group The Cars, no inning would be able to start past 5:00 PM; the game was begun at 1:00 PM to avoid the curfew. However, the game went into extra innings and was suspended in the 15th inning, to be finished the following afternoon. During the evening hours Thursday, Bombo Rivera was injured in a car crash with Toronto's Otto Velez and neither could resume playing Friday. Friday's scheduled starter Dave Stieb played left field for the final inning of the Thursday game when the Jays ran out of position players (he'd go  on to lose the Friday game). Minnesota's John Verhoeven got the win, and starter Albert Williams, who faced four batters in the fifteenth inning, got the save. On September 18, at Milwaukee for a double-header, outfielder Gary Ward hit a double, single, homer and triple in the first game, becoming the sixth Twin to hit for the cycle. It came, however, in a losing effort as the 9-8 win by the Brewers was the only time—of the ten Minnesota cycles—that Minnesota has lost the game in which a Twin cycled. Ward became part of history  in 2004 when, on May 26, his son Daryle Ward hit for the cycle for Pittsburgh, and they became the only father-son duo to accomplish the feat. Infielder John Castino led the team in most of the major offensive categories, batting .302 with 13 HR and 64 RBI. Shortstop Roy Smalley hit 12 HR and collected 63 RBI. Ken Landreaux batted .281 with 7 HR and 62 RBI. Reliever Doug Corbett replaced Mike Marshall as manager Gene Mauch's all-purpose reliever, racking up 8 relief wins along with 23 saves. His saves total set a major league rookie  record. Only veterans Jerry Koosman (16-13) and Geoff Zahn (14-18) had double digit wins. Player stats. Batting. Starters by position. "Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in" Other batters. "Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in" Pitching. Starting pitchers. "Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average ; SO = Strikeouts" Other pitchers. "Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts" Relief pitchers. "Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts"