On July 17, 1990, the Minnesota Twins became the first team in baseball to turn two triple plays in one game. They ended up losing 1-0 to the Boston Red Sox. This highly rare occurrence has yet to take place again.
The 1990 season was not favorable to the Twins. The team closed the season with 74 wins and 88 losses. Their record put them at the bottom of the pile for the western division of the American League. There were only three teams in all of baseball to do worse, the New York Yankees from the American League and the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves from the National League.
Despite their losing season, there were a number of bright spots including obtaining right handed pitcher Scott Erickson from the AA Orlando Sun Rays. He was pitching when the first of the tipple plays against the Red Sox. It was the bottom of the fourth inning. The Ball was hit to third and thrown to second and then first. The second triple play took place in the bottom of the eighth inning. The new pitcher for the Twins was John Candelaria. The ball traveled from third to second to first once again.
The only run of the game was scored by left fielder Mike Greenwell in the bottom of the fifth inning. The final score of the game does not accurately display the defensive effort of the Twins that day, but it shows that a team in a slump can still manage to do great things.
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