Minnesota Twins

Twins pitchers start series against Indians with MLB-leading ERA

Published Apr. 18, 2017 11:52 a.m. ET

The Minnesota Twins' ERA stands at a major league leading 2.46 so far this season, a far cry from last season's AL-worst 5.08 mark. Ervin Santana has been impressive early on. The veteran leads the team in wins (3), ERA (0.41), strikeouts (15) and innings pitched (22).

The last time the Twins had a better ERA through their first 12 games of the season was in 1972, when they finished their first 12 games with an ERA of 1.84.

Largest Improvement in Earned Run Average - 2016 --> 2017

Team	2016	2017	Diff
Minnesota Twins	5.08	2.46	-2.62
Cincinnati Reds	4.91	3.49	-1.42
Chicago White Sox	4.10	2.71	-1.39
New York Yankees	4.16	3.12	-1.04
Arizona Diamondbacks	5.09	4.06	-1.03

Miguel Sano is leading his team in runs, home runs and walks this season -- he is one of six players in Major League Baseball who can say that.

MLB, Players Leading Team in Runs, HR & Walks - 2017

	R	HR	BB
Brandon Belt, SF	9	3	9
Yoenis Cespedes, NYM	9	6	8
Mitch Haniger, Sea	12	4	9
Bryce Harper, Was	12	4	10
Miguel Sano, Min	11	3	11
Eugenio Suarez, Cin	11	3	5

The Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Indians were extremely evenly matched last season -- each team scored 92 runs and hit 27 home runs over their 19 matchups. The Twins struggled to close out games they were leading, however.

Twins vs. Indians Head-to-Head - 2016

	Min	Cle
Wins	9	10
Batting Avg	.256 (174/679)	.268 (179/667)
Runs/Gm	4.84 (92/19)	4.84 (92/19)
Home Runs	27	27
Save Pct (Sv/Opp)	0.0 percent (0/3)	85.7 percent (6/7)

Kyle Gibson has given up multiple home runs to six different hitters in his career, and two of them are Indians.

Carlos Santana has driven in seven runs against Gibson over his career, the most RBI Gibson has allowed to any batter.

Kyle Gibson, Most HR Allowed to Any Batter - Career