The 1990 Minnesota Twins, three years after their World Series title in 1987, fell to the bottom of the

AL West The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams cur ...

once again. However, the season was not completely bad, as there were some bright spots that included pitchers

Rick Aguilera Richard Warren Aguilera (born December 31, 1961) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher from 1985 to 2000. Aguilera won a world championship as a member of the ...

and Scott Erickson. Aguilera converted from starter to closer and recorded 32 saves, while Erickson was promoted to the Twins in June from AA and went 8-4 with a 3.27 ERA. During Fan Appreciation Day on October 3, Outfielder Dan Gladden made a prediction saying that even though we finished in last place this season, we're going to improve next season and if we did, they could potentially bring another World Series championship to Minnesota. That prediction proved accurate the next year.

Offseason

*December 4, 1989: Drafted Shane Mack from the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

in the 1989 Rule 5 draft. *December 6, 1989: Signed

Kent Hrbek Kent Alan Hrbek (; born May 21, 1960), nicknamed "Herbie", is a former American Major League Baseball first baseman. He played his entire 14-year baseball career with the Minnesota Twins (1981–1994). Hrbek batted left-handed and threw right-hand ...

as a free agent. *January 8, 1990: Carmelo Castillo was signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Twins.

Regular season

*The lone representative of the Twins in the All-Star Game was center fielder

Kirby Puckett Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett is the Twins' all-ti ...

. *The highest paid Twin in 1990 was Puckett at $2,816,667; followed by

at $2,100,000.

Offense

Pitching

Defense

The highlight of the season came on July 17, in Boston, when the Twins turned two

triple play In baseball, a triple play (denoted as TP in baseball statistics) is the act of making three outs during the same play. There have only been 733 triple plays in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1876, an average of just over five per season. Th ...

s. In the 4th inning, with the bases loaded and Scott Erickson pitching, former Twin

Tom Brunansky Thomas Andrew Brunansky (born August 20, 1960), nicknamed "Bruno", is a former right fielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1981 to 1994 for the California Angels, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, and Milwaukee Brewe ...

hit a sharp grounder to

Gary Gaetti Gary Joseph Gaetti (, ; born August 19, 1958), is an American former third baseman in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins (1981–1990), California Angels (1991–1993), Kansas City Royals (1993–1995), St. Louis Cardinals (1996–1998) ...

at third base, who stepped on the bag for the force out, fired to Al Newman at second, whose relay to

was in time to get Brunansky at first. In the 8th inning, with

John Candelaria John Robert Candelaria (born November 6, 1953) is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher. Nicknamed "The Candy Man", he played in MLB during the years 1975–1993 for eight teams, the Pittsburgh Pirates, California Angels, New York Mets, New Y ...

pitching and runners on first and second,

Jody Reed Jody may refer to: *Jody (given name), a list of people with the given name *Jody (singer), French singer, real name Julie Erikssen * "Jody" (song), 1986 single by Jermaine Stewart *"Jody", a 1982 song by America from ''View from the Ground'' *"Jod ...

hit a one-hopper at Gaetti who again started a 5-4-3 triple play. This was the first time in MLB history that two triple plays were recorded in a game, a feat that has not been duplicated since. The following night, still in Boston, both teams combined for an MLB-record-tying ten double plays. Boston tied an

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

record by grounding into six DPs in the game, only escaping the twin killings in the sixth and seventh innings. Both games were won by Boston.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster

Notable Transactions

*April 4: Traded

Mike Pomeranz Michael Pomeranz (born January 25, 1967) is an American studio host and announcer for San Diego Padres telecasts on Bally Sports San Diego and studio host for the Anaheim Ducks on Bally Sports SoCal and Bally Sports West. In addition, Pomeranz ...

(minors) to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Received Junior Ortiz and Orlando Lind (minors). *June 4, 1990:

Midre Cummings Midre Almeric Cummings (born October 14, 1971) is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates (-), Philadelphia Phillies (1997), Boston Red Sox ( and ), Minnesota Tw ...

was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (29th pick) of the 1990 amateur draft. Player signed June 12, 1990. *June 4, 1990: Jayhawk Owens was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 1990 amateur draft. Player signed June 12, 1990. *June 4: Drafted

Eddie Guardado Edward Adrian Guardado (born October 2, 1970) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher and current bullpen coach. Guardado played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins (–, ), Seattle Mariners (–), Cincinnati Reds (–) ...

in the 21st round of the 1990 amateur draft. Player signed May 23, 1991. *July 27: Traded

to the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

. Received Nelson Liriano and Pedro Muñoz. *December 18:

Randy Bush Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of them ...

was signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Twins.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

''Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Starting pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Other pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

=Relief pitchers

= ''Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: ElizabethtonJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball'', 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007

Notes and explanations

External links

Player stats from www.baseball-reference.comTeam info from www.baseball-almanac.comTwins history through the 1990s, from www.mlb.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:1990 Minnesota Twins Season Minnesota Twins seasons Minnesota Twins

Twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...