On this date in Minnesota Twins history, Scott Erickson pitched one of the most surprising no-hitters in MLB history, and the first one for the Twins since 1967.
With no baseball to watch or recap, we take a look back at one of the greatest pitching performances in Minnesota Twins history: Scott Erickson pitching the Twins’ fifth no-hitter. On April 27th, 1994, Erickson threw a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers, the 237th no-hitter ever.
This was a surprise for a couple of reasons, the first being that Scott Erickson and the Twins had been terrible in 1993. Erickson had lost 19 games and given up 266 hits, both league-worst. The Twins hadn’t been great either, losing 91 games and finishing tied for baseball’s seventh worst record.
The second reason was that 1994 wasn’t going better for the Twins or Erickson. The Twins were 8-14 and last in the newly formed American League Central, while the Brewers were 11-9 and were playing better baseball. Erickson started off the year 1-3 with a 7.48 and was a struggling again.
None of that mattered though when the two teams met in front of a disappointing crowd of just 17,988 fans at the Metrodome. Erickson was on from the beginning, not allowing a baserunner until the fourth inning, while the Twins’ sputtering offense jumped all over Brewers’ starter Jaime Navarro.
Kent Hrbek homered, Kirby Puckett hit a ground-rule double, and Chuck Knoblauch singled, all scoring runs, and by the end of the fourth inning, the Twins were in control, 5-0. Erickson could have eased up a little after that, but he bore down on the Brewers.
Erickson would end up walking four batters by games end and striking out 5 while throwing 128 pitches. However, he absolutely shut down a Brewers offense that had a couple very good average hitters, including Bill Spiers and former Twin Brian Harper.
The Twins won the game 6-0 but they ended up going 53-60 (the season was shortened due to the players’ strike) and they finished fourteen games out of first. Erickson wouldn’t pitch another full season in Minnesota and the Twins had to fight off contraction, but Erickson’s gem provides a good memory of some really bad times.
Check out the box score for the game right here!