Puckett ties record with four doubles

Entering play on May 13, 1989, Kirby Puckett was leading the American League with 12 doubles.

Coming off a narrow win against the Toronto Blue Jays the previous evening, Puckett – and his Minnesota Twins – aimed to build on that momentum.

The Twins came into the game with a 14-18 record and a 4-6 stretch in their previous 10 games. Few would have imagined the stellar performance that was about to take place that night.

In the first inning, Puckett blooped an RBI double, setting the tone for his remarkable night.

“I threw the ball just fine; I had good stuff,” Blue Jays starter Dave Stieb told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “They got hits. The bloopers killed me.”

The score remained 1-1 into the bottom of the fifth inning – Puckett flew out to right in the third inning – when the Twins scored six runs. Puckett hit another RBI double which scored teammate Al Newman and knocked Stieb out of the game. By the end of the inning, Minnesota held a commanding 7-1 lead.

With Stieb chased from the game – a rarity – Puckett next faced relief pitcher Tom Henke.

“(Stieb’s) a great pitcher,” Puckett told the Tribune. “We hung around and got going. We just got a lead and took it from there. Against a guy like him, if you don’t get him, he’ll get you.”

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Puckett doubled to left off Henke to record another RBI. “Lately, they have been pitching me inside,” Puckett told the Star Tribune. “Today I was thrown a changeup inside and all I tried to do was react to the ball.”

With the Twins leading 10-6 in the eighth inning, Puckett blooped another double just inside the right field line for his fourth two-bagger of the day.

“You got a guy (Henke) throwing 90 mph. So, you’re just trying to hit it,” Puckett told the Toronto Star. “I didn’t know four would be a record; the last one he jammed me, and I was lucky to get the bat’s head on the ball.”

The Twins won the game 10-8 but the real story was Puckett. He became the first player in Twins history and the 35th in major league history to record four doubles in one game.

In 2001, Puckett was elected to the Hall of Fame after a 12-year career that saw him amass 10 All-Star Game selections while leading the Twins to two World Series titles.

Khadifi Madison was the spring 2026 Jim Murray Scholars intern at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum