The Minnesota Twins defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 Wednesday afternoon, two teams long eliminated from postseason contention.

But there were two developments worth noting.

Phil Hughes

#45 SP
Minnesota Twins

2014 STATS

• GM32

• W16

• L10

• BB16

• K186

• ERA3.52

Twins starter Phil Hughes was pulled after a 66-minute rain delay with the Twins three outs from a win.

Hughes has a career-high 209 2/3 innings pitched this season, which wouldn’t be particularly notable but for a clause in the contract he signed last offseason that would award him a $500,000 bonus if he pitched 210 innings.

But the financial matter doesn’t tell the whole story of this unique situation.

Hughes finished with five strikeouts and no walks, giving him 186 strikeouts and 16 walks this season, an amazing transformation from a pitcher whose career strikeout-to-walk ratio was not even 3-to-1.

Hughes' 2014 ratio of 11.6-to-1 would set an all-time major league record for a pitcher who qualified for his season’s ERA title, breaking the mark set by Bret Saberhagen for the New York Mets (11-to-1 in 1994).

However, if Hughes were to pitch again in the hopes of attaining the 1/3 of an inning that would net him the bonus, he’d be running the risk of falling short of the record.

Were Hughes to walk one more batter and not strike anyone out, his ratio would dip to 10.9, one-tenth of a point shy of the record.

But the chances of that would seem slim. In his past eight starts, Hughes has 52 strikeouts and only one walk.

The biggest difference for Hughes this season is that he has followed the Twins' philosophy, espoused by manager Ron Gardenhire, of attacking the strike zone.

His percentage of pitches in the zone was 52 percent from 2011 to 2013. In 2014, it's 60 percent, with the primary component of the change being his fastball (which went from a 57 percent "in the strike zone" rate to 65 percent).

Hughes has also made the most of his cutter, which he has used much more frequently this season. Hitters have chased it at a 34 percent rate in 2014, as the pitch often looks like a strike but makes a late cut out of the zone.

It will be interesting to see what Twins management does, given the situation. The Twins have four games remaining, and Hughes was not scheduled to start any of them.