MINNEAPOLIS -- After going homerless in their three-game sweep at the hands of the A's, the Twins homered in a hurry against the Rays on Thursday night, and it came in an unconventional way.
Eduardo Nunez led off the first inning with an inside-the-park home run against Rays lefty Matt Moore to give the Twins an early lead. It was the first inside-the-park homer for a Twins player in Target Field history and the first of Nunez's career. It was also the 50th inside-the-park homer in franchise history, and the first since Kurt Suzuki hit one on May 20, 2014, in San Diego.
It was also the first time in Minnesota history a Twins player opened the first with an inside-the-parker. Last to do it in franchise history was the Senators' Al Kozar on July 26, 1949. Last to do it in the Majors was Eric Young Jr. on Aug. 8, 2012.
Nunez's inside-the-parker came on an 0-1 fastball from Moore and right fielder Brandon Guyer couldn't handle the deep drive to right, as it went off his glove while Nunez raced around the bases and scored easily. Nunez ran the bases in 15.23 seconds, which was the fastest time this season, per Statcast™. Miami's Dee Gordon holds the record for fastest time around the bases in the Statcast™ era at 14.24 seconds. Statcast™ also had the ball leaving Nunez's bat at 94 mph.
It was the sixth homer of the year for Nunez and his second career leadoff homer.
Rhett Bollinger has covered the Twins for MLB.com since 2011. Read his blog, Bollinger Beat, follow him on Twitter @RhettBollinger and listen to his podcast. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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