The positives from Target Field in 2016

We all know the Minnesota Twins ended 2016 with the worst record in their team history. Plenty of bad vibes and stats to go around. For a change of pace though, I decided to go through my stack of Twins notes from the home games this season, to recall some of the positive things that happened at the ballpark.

Because yes, there were some exciting moments. I promise.

2016 Target Field bright spots:

• Joe Mauer started the season with a 28-game on-base streak. He did it again in May and June, marking the third time in team history that a player had two 28-plus game streaks in the same season. The last one was Rod Carew in 1977. 
• Robbie Grossman went 3-for-4 v. the Blue Jays in his first game in a Twins uniform May 20. He doubled in his first at-bat and homered in the 9th inning.
• Kurt Suzuki singled for his 1,000th career hit in a 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays May 22. That ranked him fifth in hits among active catchers in baseball. 
• Mauer hit his 20th home run at Target Field v. the Royals May 23.
• Eduardo Nunez hit his first career leadoff home run in a 7-5 Twins win over the Royals May 25. Right after that, Brian Dozier hit a homer. It was the fifth time in Twins history the team started the game with back-to-back home runs.
• Taylor Rogers recorded his first MLB win in a 6-4 game v. the Rays June 2. He tossed two hitless innings with two strikeouts.
• Nunez hit his first inside-the-park homer to start the game June 2. It marked the 50th inside-the-parker in Twins history. It was also the first time it came in the leadoff spot.
• Buddy Boshers earned his first career win June 7 v. the Marlins in a 6-4 decision. He pitched 0.2 innings and fanned both batters he faced.
• The June 7 game was a walk-off win with a Dozier homer in the bottom of the 11th. It was the fourth walk-off win of the season. It was Dozier's third career walk-off homer and fifth walk-off hit. 
• Again in that Marlins game, Nunez hit two homers, in the first and fifth innings, for his first multi-homer game of his career.
• Brandon Kintzler turned into the Twins closer this season, recording his first career save in a 7-5 Twins win v. the Marlins June 8. 
• Max Kepler made his first career home run a dramatic one. It came in the 10th inning with two men on base to win the game 7-4.
• Trevor Plouffe legged out a triple in a 14-10 victory June 21 over the Phillies. It was his first triple since Aug. 1, 2015.
• Suzuki went 4-for-5 and just missed the cycle (no triple) in that game against the Phillies. He drove in six runs, a career-high, and matched his career-high in hits. It was his first four-hit game since 2010. All nine Twins starters reached base in that game. 
• Fernando Abad (who was later traded) tossed 1.1 perfect innings for his first career save June 22 v. the Phillies.
• Kepler had a two-homer game in a 17-5 victory over the Rangers July 2. They were each three-run homers. He ended up with seven RBI for the game, which is a Twins rookie record for RBI in a game. Miguel Sano, Oswaldo Arcia and Tony Oliva each held the record previously with six RBI. 
• Nunez went 4-for-5 in that 17-5 game, with a pair of doubles and his 27th multi-hit game.
• Nunez was the lone Twins representative for the All-Star game. He held a .316 average, a career-high 13 homers and 35 RBI at the time. He didn't have an at-bat in the All-Star game, instead playing the infield for the 9th, helping to record a game-ending double play. He was traded away before the deadline.
• After the latest start in Target Field history July 5 because of rain (a delay of two hours and 42 minutes, starting at 9:52 p.m.), Kennys Vargas and Kepler hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning. The Twins beat the A's 11-4. 
• Ervin Santana threw a complete game v. the Braves July 26. He's the first Twins pitcher to toss multiple complete games in a season since Carl Pavano in 2011. Unfortunately, the Twins didn't offer any run support on this night, and the Twins lost 2-0. 
• Mauer reached the 800-walk mark in a 6-5 loss to the White Sox July 30.
• Another player got his first career save: Ryan Pressly in a 6-4 Twins win over the White Sox July 31. It came in his 152nd career appearance.
• Catcher Juan Centeno hit his first career triple in a Twins 3-1 victory over the Astros Aug. 8. 
• Vargas hit a pair of homers in game one of a doubleheader Aug. 11, one from each side of the plate. He was the fourth Twins player to hit homers from both sides of the plate. He was the first since Ryan Doumit in 2012. Roy Smalley and Chili Davis were the others. It was the first career two-run homer game for Vargas.
• Dozier hit his 100th career home run Aug. 13 v. the Royals in a 5-3 Twins win. He was the 16th Twin, and first second baseman, to reach that mark and first since Mauer in 2013.
• Mauer also reached the 800-RBI mark, driving in the milestone run in a Twins loss v. the Tigers Aug. 23. He's the sixth Twin to reach that mark.
• Dozier set a new career-high for himself in home runs when he hit his 29th of the season Aug. 23. He hit 28 in 2015. 
• Twins sent 13 batters to the plate in the third inning of a 11-3 win over the White Sox Sept. 3. Four Twins players homered (Dozier, Byron Buxton, Sano and Plouffe). They scored eight runs in the third alone, tying a team record for the most runs scored in that particular inning. The last time they did it (five total) was May 22, 2001 v. the Mariners.
• They followed up that game with another four homers the next day, in a 13-11 loss. This time it was Buxton, Dozier, John Ryan Murphy and Sano with the homers.
• Buxton's home run was hit first career grand slam, coming in the second inning. It was the second grand slam of the season for the Twins; Kepler hit one in Texas. Buxton went 3-for-6 and homered in consecutive games for the first time.
• The man of the season was Dozier. He had a three-homer game Sept. 5 v. the Royals, giving him No. 36, 37 and 38 on the season. No. 38 means he had the most home runs by any Twins player since the legendary Harmon Killebrew hit 41 in 1970. Forty-six years ago. Dozier and Killebrew are the only Twins players to ever to hit at least 36 homers in one season. Dozier also became the sixth Twins player to hit three homers in one game and the first to do it at home.
• Dozier homered in five straight games in September, which ties the great Killebrew for a Twins record. Killer did it three times. Marty Cordova also did it once, in 1995. 
• Alex Wimmers got his first career win with a 6-5 Twins victory over the Royals Sept. 7. 
• Twins hit homers in 11 straight games, a streak that ended Sept. 11. They hit 25 home runs in that time.
• J.T. Chargois got his first career win with a scoreless 12th inning Sept. 10 v. the Indians. The Twins won 2-1. 
• Mauer had just his second career walk-off hit in the 12th with an RBI single. His only other walk-off hit came July 15, 2007 v. the Athletics. It was his third career walk-off, however, because he earned a walk-off walk July 29 this season. 
• James Beresford made his MLB debut after years in the minors. He started at third base and also got his first career hit, a single in the seventh inning. His parents flew all the way from Australia to see him play.
• Sept. 22 in the first game of a doubleheader with the Tigers, Dozier set an American League record with his 40th home run as a second baseman. He also scored his 100th run of the season, reaching that mark for the third season in a row. The only other Twin to do that was Chuck Knoblauch in 1995-97.
• Dozier had a 24-game hit streak that ended in the second game of the doubleheader. It's a career-high and was the longest for a Twins player since Brian Harper hit in 25 straight games in 1990.