Diamondbacks 1 - 2 Twins
Final
  for this game

Hughes sets record, leads Twins over D-backs

Sep 25, 2014 - 12:59 AM Minneapolis, MN (SportsNetwork.com) - Phil Hughes' first season in Minnesota is going down in the record books.

The veteran right-hander allowed just one run on five hits over eight innings, as the Twins defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2-1, at Target Field.

Hughes (16-10), who struck out five and didn't walk a batter, finished the season with a 11.6-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio to become the all-time single- season leader in that category. He beat out Bret Saberhagen's 20-year-old mark of 11-to-1.

Hughes also became the first Twins pitcher to reach 16 victories since 2010, when Carl Pavano went 17-11. The former Yankee, Hughes, finished the year with 186 strikeouts and only 16 walks in a career-high 209 2/3 innings over 32 starts.

"That's incredible. And going again today, just pounding the strike zone. He's done it against all the teams in baseball that we faced. He's done the same thing, so pretty incredible," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said about Hughes.

Thanks to Mother Nature, Hughes ended just one out shy of reaching a contract bonus that would have paid him an extra half million dollars. Needing one out in the ninth to reach the 210-inning mark, rain forced the game into a one- hour, six-minute delay in the middle of the eighth inning.

When play resumed, Hughes was on the bench after tossing just 96 pitches. Jared Burton worked the final inning to record his third save of the season.

Danny Santana went 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Twins, who won two of three from the Diamondbacks to end a nine-game homestand with a 5-4 mark. Minnesota begins a four-game, season-ending series in Detroit on Thursday.

David Peralta drove in the lone run for Arizona, which has dropped two straight and eight of nine. The Diamondbacks travel home to face the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game set starting Friday.

The Twins got a run in the first thanks to a bases loaded walk to Kurt Suzuki that forced home Santana and another run in the second when Eduardo Escobar scored on Trevor Plouffe's sacrifice fly.

Both runs came off Arizona starter Vidal Nuno (0-7). The left-hander suffered the loss, allowing two runs on three hits, striking out six and walking four, over five innings.

"I was trying to nibble and the umpire was not giving me stuff that was close around the strike zone," Nuno said.

Arizona got a run back in the sixth when A.J. Pollock scored on Peralta's sac fly.

The Diamondbacks had a chance to continue the game in the ninth. With two outs and two strikes, Jordan Paceco doubled. However, Burton got Didi Gregorius to ground out to second to end the game.

Game Notes

Hughes issued just one free pass over 59 innings, spanning his last nine starts ... Plouffe left the game in the top of the sixth inning with a fractured left forearm. He suffered the injury when attempting to tag Pollock on a steal. He is done for the season ... Minnesota slugger Joe Mauer was hit by a pitch in Tuesday's game and missed this contest with a right elbow bruise ... Attendance was 29,454 ... Arizona stole four bases off the Hughes-Burton battery with Ender Inciarte recording two.






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