17 K's, 15 years ago: Reliving Johan Santana's history-making day on the mound

It's all relative, but for apex Johan Santana, 2007 was a pedestrian season.

He would finish 15-13 with a 3.33 ERA and 235 strikeouts over 219 innings with a league-leading 1.073 WHIP — numbers good enough for fifth place in the AL Cy Young voting, but that was his lowest vote total in four seasons, having won the award in 2004 and 2006.

But on Aug. 19, 2007, with the Twins still trying to claw into the American League Central race at 61-61, Santana took the mound against the Rangers on a Sunday afternoon and put on arguably the greatest performance of his career and one of the best in Twins history.

He struck out two in the first inning, then the side in the second.

Catcher Mike Redmond told Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune after the game he sensed at that moment this could be a special outing, even for an ace like Santana. Everything was in play, including a no-hitter.

"I walked off the field after the second and said: 'This could be it. This guy's got some amazing stuff today.' "

Santana struck out two more apiece in the third, fourth and fifth. Eleven strikeouts through five innings had fans thinking history was possible — the MLB record was 20 strikeouts in nine innings by Roger Clemens (1986, 1996), Kerry Wood (1998) and Randy Johnson (2001). Max Scherzer would join them in 2016.

Santana stumbled slightly in the sixth — getting through a 1-2-3 inning on eight pitches but with no strikeouts.

In the seventh, he worked around a Sammy Sosa double and struck out three to move within one of the Twins' franchise record of 15 strikeouts in a game, set four times, most recently by Bert Blyleven in 1986.

In the eighth he broke the record and then some. Santana struck out Gerald Laird, Nelson Cruz and Jarrod Saltalamacchia on 14 pitches.

The crowd of 36,354 went ballistic.

If he came out for the ninth, Santana would have a shot at history and 20 strikeouts in nine innings.

But he had thrown 112 pitches and the Twins held a slim lead, 1-0, in the midst of a pennant chase with All-Star closer Joe Nathan in the bullpen.

"You want to sit in my seat and try to make that decision," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said after the game, "with all the people hooting and hollering for him to go back out there?"

Gardenhire made the call. Nathan came in, struck out two and got the save.

"That was really good, especially the way everything ended up," Santana said. "We won by one run, and 17 strikeouts is always good. But to see all the fans getting into it, that's pretty special."

It became one of the lasting memories of his career in Minnesota, and one of the last.

Santana made seven more starts for the Twins and then was traded to the Mets in the offseason for a package of Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey.