MLB NEWS

Twins make some chilly history

The Sports Xchange

April 18, 2014 at 2:57 am.

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Twins were a part of outdoor baseball history during the first game of their doubleheader Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays, playing the coldest game in the history of professional outdoor baseball in Minnesota.

According to unofficial press box historian Stew Thornley, the 31-degree first pitch was one colder than the previous low of 32 degrees on May 2, 1967 at Metropolitan Stadium. The coldest first-pitch at Target Field before Thursday was 34 degrees, set last April 12 against the New York Mets.

The second game of the series Wednesday was postponed due to rain and snow that fell in the Twin Cities. The Twins sent out a team-wide memo asking for help clearing snow from the seating areas and the cold temperatures were not ideal for one game, much less a doubleheader. But with this being the only trip to Minnesota for the Blue Jays this season, Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony said there wasn’t much thought about whether to play Wednesday’s game as part of a day/night doubleheader.

“We discussed it, but neither team really wanted to do it. It’s tough travel-wise,” Antony said. “It didn’t make a lot of sense when you take both teams into consideration.”

Antony said there were several dates later in the summer where both teams had off days, but for one reason or another, they wouldn’t have worked out. The Twins also looked at their schedule over the next week and decided playing two on Thursday was the best decision.

“You can look at it and say, ‘Well at this date, we’d probably get more fans,’ but you have to

take everything into consideration,” Antony said. “This actually works out well for us because we can pitch both our guys, we go to Kansas City, play three, have the off day and everybody stays right on schedule.”

The Twins ended up sweeping Thursday’s doubleheader, defeating the Blue Jays 7-0 in the first game and 9-5 in the second.