On Wednesday, Santana notched a Game Score of 91 — just the seventh game in all of MLB this season of 90 or more.
When you add up Santana's day in the context of the Game Score, you see how he racked up points in the Bill James-invented metric: He allowed just two hits and zero runs. He didn't walk anyone. He struck out eight batters. And he worked the full nine innings.
Those factors always are going to help a Game Score — with low hit totals, working deep in a ballgame and high strikeout totals being hallmarks of high numbers. Those are also things Twins pitchers have been lousy at in recent years, which brings us to the more stunning part of Santana's game: he became the first Twins pitcher since Scott Baker in 2007 to produce a Game Score of 90 or better.
I counted 160 times between Baker's gem and Santana's gem that an MLB pitcher cracked the magic 90.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
