July 18, 1990
A day earlier, the Twins and Red Sox competed in a game that has since gone down in Twins’ lore. That, of course, was the game in which the Twins set a major league record by turning two triple plays in the same game.
What might be forgotten, however, is that the same two teams worked together the next day to pull of a feat that was almost equally as impressive.
It started innocently enough. After Shane Mack homered in the top of the first, Kirby Puckett reached when he was hit by a Mike Boddicker pitch. Kent Hrbek then lined into a double play, unassisted by the first baseman, to end the inning.
In the bottom of the frame, Wade Boggs led off with a single off of David West. The next batter, Jody Reed, hit a sharp grounder to Al Newman at short stop, starting a 6-4-3 double play.
With two on and nobody out in the bottom of the second inning, Kevin Romine grounded out to Twins’ second baseman Fred Manrique who started a 4-3 double play.
Dan Gladden’s third inning lead off single was erased when Shane Mack grounded into a double play. And so it went. The Red Sox grounded into a double play in each of the first five innings. There were 17 half-innings of baseball played that evening, 51 outs recorded. On only 31 occasions was an out recorded on its own.
The two teams combined for 10 double plays. The Red Sox hit into six, the Twins into four. 10 combined double plays was a new major league record for both teams in a nine-inning game. The six double plays recorded by the Twins tied an American League record for DP’s recorded by a single team.
Unfortunately, the lead in double plays turned during the game did not translate into a lead on the scoreboard. The Twins lost the game 5-4.