Mick Abel joins Twins legends in MLB history with dominant outing vs. Red Sox
Mick Abel joins Twins legends in MLB history with dominant outing vs. Red Sox originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Minnesota Twins are one of the biggest surprises of the 2026 MLB season so far. While most wrote the Twins off as one of the worst teams in the league, they've begun the year hot at 11-7 atop the AL Central.
Even if this doesn't last for the rest of the season, the Twins are showing some serious fight and some impressive performances in the early goings of the season.
And as @jayhaykid shared on Twitter/x following the Twins' win over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night, Mick Abel , the Twins starter, joined two legends in franchise history with an all-time outing against the Red Sox.
Mick Abel joins Twins franchise legends with dominance vs. Red Sox
"Walter Johnson. Bert Blyleven. Mick Abel. The only pitchers in Twins/Senators history to have starts featuring 0 r, 0 BB, and 10+ K against the Red Sox," @jayhaykid shared.
During Tuesday night's game, Abel went 7.0 innings while striking out 10 batters and allowing no walks or runs to score, while giving up just four hits.
It was an incredible outing for Abel, and two other pitchers in the Twins and Senators franchise history have ever had such a dominant outing against the Red Sox.
One of those is Bert Blyleven, a Hall of Famer who put up 94.5 bWAR in his long career to go along with 287 wins and a 3.31 ERA for his career, with 11 years coming with the Twins.
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Walter Johnson is the other franchise legend that Abel is joining, and "The Big Train" might be one of the greatest pitchers ever. He posted a 2.17 ERA in his 21-year career with 168.3 bWAR and 417 wins.
Seeing Abel, who has a 3.98 ERA on the year and a 5.46 ERA in the early goings of his career, join Johnson and Blyleven on this list is an incredible accomplishment.
It's not indicative of the kind of career Abel will go on to have, but the 24-year-old having such a great outing against the Red Sox is something this franchise has seen twice, both times from all-time great pitchers.
Abel has a lot of work to do if he wants to catch up to Johnson and Blyleven. But for now, this dominant outing against the Red Sox is a fun anecdote in Abel's career, as the potential he's flashed for Minnesota is sky-high.
