Francisco Liriano Casillas (born October 26, 1983) is a Dominican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, and Detroit Tigers. Liriano was an MLB All-Star in 2006, and is a two-time winner of the MLB Comeback Player of the Year Award; he is the only player to win the award in both leagues.
Liriano signed with the San Francisco Giants as an international free agent in 2000. After the 2003 season, the Giants traded him to the Minnesota Twins, along with pitchers Joe Nathan and Boof Bonser, in exchange for catcher A. J. Pierzynski.
Often compared to former teammate Johan Santana, another hard-throwing lefty, Liriano was touted as one of the "super-prospects" within the Twins organization. As a member of the Rochester Red Wings, Minnesota's Triple-A farm club, Liriano was awarded the 2005 International League Rookie of the Year. He led all minor league pitchers in strikeouts that year, with 204. He made his major league debut in relief on September 5, 2005, against the Texas Rangers, allowing a home run to his first batter, Gary Matthews Jr., before retiring his next three batters. He later joined the Twins' starting rotation and won his first game on September 30, 2005, against the Detroit Tigers.
Liriano began the 2006 season in Minnesota's bullpen, but was promoted to the starting rotation in May, exchanging positions with struggling starter Carlos Silva. He started the season 12–3 and won the American League Rookie of the Month awards for June and July. He was named by American League manager Ozzie Guillén as one of five candidates for the 2006 All-Star Final Vote and finished second to the player he was traded for, A. J. Pierzynski. Guillén selected Liriano for his first All-Star game to replace fatigued starting pitcher José Contreras.
Liriano led the Major Leagues with a 2.19 ERA, statistics putting him in discussion for both the American League Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards, but a trip to the disabled list on August 11 left him with too few innings to qualify as the league's official ERA leader and jeopardized his chances at any such awards in 2006. On August 1, 2006, Liriano was scratched from his scheduled August 2 start because of forearm inflammation after a bullpen session. He missed one start before resuming bullpen work without pain, but was placed on the disabled list after continued arm pain during his last start on August 7, 2006. Liriano began a rehabilitation program on August 22, and threw off a mound for the first time on August 30, throwing only his fastball and changeup, and said that he would like to pitch his breaking ball later that week. He made a rehab start for Triple-A Rochester on September 9, throwing 40 pitches for four strikeouts and one walk in three hitless innings. After the game, he reported feeling no pain in his elbow and was activated by the Twins. In his first start back on September 13, Liriano left the game in the third inning with left elbow pain. He was shut down for the season after the game.
On November 6, 2006, Liriano underwent Tommy John surgery to curtail the pain in his left elbow. He missed the entire 2007 season.
On April 11, 2008, Liriano was recalled from Triple-A Rochester in the place of injured pitcher Kevin Slowey. Liriano made his season debut and his first game since Tommy John surgery on April 13, against the Royals. He pitched 4+2⁄3 innings, giving up six hits, four earned runs and walking five while picking up a loss.
On April 25, Liriano was sent back to the minors after a rough start to the season coming off Tommy John surgery. In three starts, he compiled an 0–3 record with an 11.32 ERA.
After recording an ERA of 2.67 and going 10–0 in his 11 most recent minor league starts, the Twins recalled Liriano on August 1, from Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, replacing Liván Hernández in the rotation. Hernandez was designated for assignment. In his first start after being recalled, Liriano pitched six scoreless innings and struck out five, recording the win. In 13 total starts in 2008, he went 6–4 with a 3.91 ERA.
Liriano struggled in 2009, posting a 5–13 record with a 5.80 ERA in 29 games (24 starts). However, this was his first year since his Tommy John surgery that he had spent that entire year on the Twins major league roster. On June 28 against the St. Louis Cardinals, he threw seven strong innings, only surrendering two runs. On August 12 against Kansas City, Liriano went another seven innings, only allowing one run in yet another strong outing. Between those strong flashes of brilliance though, he logged several sub-par showings, frequently giving up several runs during short times on the mound.
During the 2009 offseason, Liriano returned to his native Dominican Republic to play winter baseball, playing for Leones del Escogido. He helped his club earn a postseason berth and then went 3–1 with a 0.49 ERA in seven playoff starts, while recording 47 strikeouts and five walks in 37 innings, as Leones del Escogido won the league championship.
Liriano reported to spring training lighter than usual, and Twins coaches expressed guarded optimism that he had regained some of his 2006 form. The Twins considered using him as a closer to replace the injured Joe Nathan, but instead he was named to the starting rotation.
Liriano got off to a fast start in 2010. In his first four starts for the Twins, he posted a 3–0 record with an 0.93 ERA and 27 strikeouts. On May 3, he was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for April. Through May 18, he had posted a 4–2 record and a 2.63 ERA in seven starts, striking out 46 in 48 innings and not giving up a single home run.
Liriano struggled from mid-May until the All-Star break, losing five of seven decisions. But after the break, he returned to his early season form. Over an eleven start stretch from July 16 (his first game after the All-Star break) to September 14, Liriano posted an 8–0 record to go along with a 2.41 ERA. Across this span, he limited hitters to a .227 batting average, struck out 72 in 71 innings against 25 walks, and gave up only two home runs. Liriano struggled in his final three starts of the season, however, losing all three outings and posting an ERA of 8.10.
Liriano finished 2010 fifth in the AL in strikeouts with 201, while walking 58. He posted a 14–10 record for the year with a 3.62 ERA and a career-high 191+2⁄3 innings pitched across 31 starts, 20 of which were quality. He was considered a Cy Young candidate by some writers, as his 2.66 FIP (a defense independent pitching statistic) was second only to Cliff Lee in the American League, and his 2.95 xFIP was first in the American League. Despite his ERA only ranking 14th in the league, Liriano posted an extremely low FIP primarily due to his ability to limit home runs. Liriano only allowed nine across the entire regular season (three of which came in his final start) and his HR/9 rate of 0.42 led the American League (which was also the lowest rate posted by a Twins starter in over 20 years). He was further benefited by his high strikeout totals, as his K/9 ratio of 9.44 ranked second in the AL behind Jon Lester and he was one of only five AL pitchers that year with at least 200 strikeouts.
Liriano started Game 1 of the 2010 American League Division Series for the Twins. He received a no-decision after pitching 5+2⁄3 innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits while walking three and striking out seven. The Twins lost Game 1 to the New York Yankees, 6–4, and were swept in three games, marking the end of Liriano's season. Liriano finished tied for eleventh in the voting for the American League Cy Young Award alongside Justin Verlander, receiving one fifth-place vote.
On February 5, 2011, Liriano signed a one-year, $4.3 million contract with the Twins, avoiding arbitration. Liriano struggled through his first five starts of 2011, giving up 24 earned runs in 23+2⁄3 innings through the month of April. During this period of five starts, he only entered the seventh inning once. He met with his pitching coach and manager after these starts and was in danger of losing his spot in the starting rotation. His fortunes changed significantly in his next start. On May 3, Liriano pitched his first career complete game, a 1–0 no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. The no-hitter featured six walks, a high (although not record-high) number for a no-hit game. He struck out two of the 30 batters he faced and threw 123 pitches, 66 of which were strikes. It was the first no-hitter for the Twins organization since Eric Milton accomplished the feat on September 11, 1999, against the Anaheim Angels, and the seventh official no-hitter for the franchise.