MINNEAPOLIS -- Brian Dozier made history in the Twins' 9-2 loss to the Tigers on Thursday afternoon in Game 1 of a split doubleheader, as he connected on his 42nd homer of the year and his 40th while playing second base, which set an American League record for homers hit by a second baseman.
"It's just another number but at the same time, I know the fans are into that kind of thing," Dozier said. "So you come out and play for them. So to be able to do that at home was pretty cool."
But Dozier's 24-game hitting streak ended after he went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the nightcap -- a 4-2 loss at Target Field.
Dozier became only the fourth player in Major League history to reach 40 homers while playing second base, joining Rogers Hornsby (42), Davey Johnson (42) and Ryne Sandberg (40). Johnson holds the MLB record for homers hit by a player who primarily played second base with 43, so Dozier can tie the record with one more blast. He also scored his 100th run.
"Dozier scored his 100th run and set the American League record, but unfortunately for him, we haven't been able to celebrate many of those home runs with the losses," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "But his impressive run continues, and he kept his streak alive."
Dozier's 42nd homer of the year came in the first inning, as he crushed a 2-0 fastball from right-hander Aníbal Sánchez into the second deck for a leadoff homer to tie the score at 1. Dozier's 19th career leadoff homer left the bat at 103 mph and went a projected 392 feet, per Statcast™. The homer also moved Dozier into a tie with the Blue Jays' Edwin Encarnacion for the second-most homers in the Majors this year. The Orioles' Mark Trumbo leads with 43 homers. The last Twins player to lead the Majors in home runs was Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew (49) in 1969.
Dozier's 24-game hit streak is the longest by a Twins player since Lenny Green hit safely in 24 consecutive games in 1961. It's tied for the third-longest streak in Minnesota history. Ken Landreaux holds the club record with a 31-game streak in '80.
The homer also gave Dozier his 100th run of the season, which marked his third straight year of scoring at least 100 runs. He's only the second Twins player to accomplish the feat, joining Chuck Knoblauch, who did it from 1995-97.
The homer was Dozier's 82nd extra-base hit of the year, which is two shy of the club record of 84 set by Tony Oliva in 1964. He's also one RBI shy of 100 on the year. The last Twins player with at least 100 runs and 100 RBIs in a season was Michael Cuddyer in 2006. It's only been accomplished eight times in franchise history.