In baseball, a triple play (denoted by TP) is the rare act of making three outs during the same continuous play.
There are many ways a triple play can be performed; most of them are done with runners on first and second base. Typically, a ball hit to the shortstop or third baseman is fielded, the runner heading to third is forced out or tagged out, the ball is thrown to second base for a force play, and then finally to first to throw out the batter. Another common sequence (to the extent such plays can be called common) is a line drive to the shortstop or second baseman that is caught without the runners noticing or after they have taken large leads (as in the case of a hit and run), the runners then being forced or tagged out when they fail to tag up.
Triple plays are relatively rare, since a triple play requires at least two runners already on base, no outs, a batted ball hit in a way that allows it to be fielded cleanly so that three baserunners (always including the batter) can be put out or unusual incompetence in baserunning, and quick action from the fielders to perform. The unassisted triple play, a triple play in which only one fielder handles the ball, is the least common type of triple play, and is arguably the rarest occurrence in baseball: it has happened only 15 times since 1900 at the major league level. Triple plays, even of the unassisted variety, are not extraordinarily difficult for major league fielders to achieve; their rarity is due to their dependence on specific circumstances arising in a game.
According to the Society for American Baseball Research, there have been 684 triple plays in Major League Baseball from 1876 to April 4, 2011. The most recent triple play, number 687, was recorded September 27th, 2011 by the Tampa Bay Rays against the New York Yankees at Tropicana Field.
In 1973, Baltimore Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson started two 5–4–3 triple plays: one on July 7 against the Oakland Athletics' Gene Tenace, and one on September 20 against the Tigers' Frank Howard. In both cases, Bobby Grich was the second baseman.[1]
Playing against the Boston Red Sox on July 17, 1990, the Minnesota Twins became the first (and to date the only) team in baseball history to turn two triple plays in the same game. Both triple plays were 5-4-3 plays (Gary Gaetti - Al Newman - Kent Hrbek). Jody Reed was the first out in the fourth inning play and the final out (batting) in the eighth inning play. Despite their defensive heroics, the Twins lost the game 1–0.[2][3]
While playing with the New York Yankees in 1982, Bobby Murcer, Graig Nettles, and Roy Smalley got caught in a bizarre 2-5-3-1 triple play. Smalley had struck out (Out #1), and meanwhile the runners from 1st and 2nd had taken off in an attempt to steal second and third. The ball was thrown to 3rd (played by Gary Gaetti). Gaetti chased Murcer back to 2nd base and tagged him but he was called safe. Gaetti then threw the ball to 1st baseman Kent Hrbek to tag Nettles who was caught between 1st and 2nd (Out #2). During this, Murcer had attempted to take off from 2nd again. The ball was thrown from Hrbek to 3rd base to pitcher Terry Felton, who was now covering 3rd base and tagged Murcer (Out #3).[1][4]
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On May 14, 2006, during a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota's Luis Castillo popped up a bunt attempt with two runners on in the bottom of the sixth inning. The ball was caught by Chicago first baseman Paul Konerko for the first out. Konerko then threw to second baseman Tadahito Iguchi covering first to double up Shannon Stewart who was on the move. Iguchi then threw to shortstop Juan Uribe covering second to triple off Nick Punto, also on the move. The play was the White Sox's first since July 7, 2004 against the Angels and the first against the Twins since September 18, 1996.
Thirteen days later at the Metrodome, during a game between the Minnesota Twins and the Seattle Mariners on May 27, 2006, Seattle's Kenji Johjima hit a ground ball to Luis Castillo with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning. As Richie Sexson scored, Castillo ran down Seattle's Adrián Beltré who was coming from first base, and tagged him out before throwing the ball to first baseman Justin Morneau to get Johjima out. Morneau quickly threw to third baseman Tony Batista who tagged Seattle's Carl Everett for the third out. Everett had come from second and overran third before deciding to stay at third, but by that time Batista was able to make the tag. Minnesota had not turned a triple play since its 1990 game against Boston.
On June 11, 2006 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, in a game between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Kansas City Royals, the Royals turned an unconventional triple play with the help of an umpire appeal. Tampa Bay led Kansas City, 1–0, in the top of the second inning with men on first and third when Rays right fielder Russell Branyan lofted a fly ball to shallow center field. Royals outfielder David DeJesus caught the ball, then threw home trying to get the runner attempting to score, but it went over catcher Paul Bako's head, and pitcher Scott Elarton, who was backing up the play, caught the ball. Rocco Baldelli tagged up at first and tried to make it to second base, where he was thrown out. The Royals appealed to third-base umpire Bob Davidson that Aubrey Huff had tagged up before DeJesus caught the ball. Shortstop Angel Berroa threw to third baseman Mark Teahen, which nullified the apparent run, and completed the 8–1–6–5 triple play.
Some observers questioned whether this was a valid triple play, due to baseball rule 2.00 which provides: "A triple play is a play by the defense in which three offensive players are put out as a result of continuous action, providing there is no error between putouts." That argument was based on the assumption that DeJesus' wild throw would be an error between the first and second outs. However, the scoring rules also state that "A fielder is charged with an error when he fails to catch a ball hit or thrown to him, or he inaccurately throws a ball to another fielder, allowing a runner to reach safely or to advance a base or allowing a batter to prolong his time at bat, if the official scorer concludes that the fielder should have successfully made the play."
On September 2, 2006, the Rays produced a triple play comprising a strikeout and two baserunners caught off base, against the Seattle Mariners. Tampa pitcher J.P. Howell struck out Raúl Ibáñez. Catcher Dioner Navarro fired the ball to shortstop Ben Zobrist, who tagged Adrián Beltré out. During that throw, Jose Lopez tried to go home from third, but Zobrist returned the ball to Navarro in time to put Lopez out at the plate, completing the first 2–6–2 triple play in MLB history.
The White Sox turned a triple play yet again on September 18, 2006, against the Detroit Tigers. With runners on first and second, Carlos Guillen lined out to third baseman Joe Crede. Crede then threw the ball to second baseman Tadahito Iguchi, who stepped on second and tagged the runner coming from first base to complete the play.
During 2007 spring training in Arizona, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim completed triple plays on three separate occasions; because these did not occur during the regular season, they do not count in the statistics.
On April 21, 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies turned a triple play against the Cincinnati Reds. After a walk by Josh Hamilton and a single by Edwin Encarnacion, catcher David Ross grounded a ball that went from third to second to first (Abraham Núñez, Chase Utley, and Wes Helms, respectively) for the triple play. It was the first triple play for the Phillies since 1999 and the first against the Reds since 1997.
Eight days later, on April 29, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies turned an unassisted triple play vs. the Atlanta Braves. In the seventh inning, Tulowitzki caught Chipper Jones' line drive with the runners moving, stepped on second to retire Kelly Johnson and tagged Edgar Rentería before he could return to first. Even Tulowitzki seemed confused as to what he had done. After tagging Renteria, he went back and tagged second base again (even though Johnson had already been put out); he then threw the ball to first baseman Todd Helton.
On August 27, 2007, the Cleveland Indians turned a triple play against the Minnesota Twins. Mike Redmond grounded to Casey Blake, who stepped on third base, threw to Asdrubal Cabrera at second, who then threw to Víctor Martínez at first to complete the play. It was the first triple play that the Indians had turned since August 7, 1992, and the first triple play turned at Progressive Field.[5]
On September 12, 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies completed a triple play against the Colorado Rockies. Runners were at first and second with no outs in the top of the first inning. Matt Holliday hit a line drive to third baseman Greg Dobbs who caught it for the first out. Then he threw to Chase Utley who put out Cory Sullivan by stepping on second base. Utley then tagged Troy Tulowitzki, running from first base, to complete the third out.
On May 12, 2008, Cleveland Indians second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera turned an unassisted triple play against the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth inning. Kevin Mench was on second, Marco Scutaro was on first, and Lyle Overbay was at the plate. The Blue Jays attempted a hit-and-run, and Overbay hit a pitch from Cliff Lee up the middle. Cabrera made a diving catch of the ball near the bag, stood up, stepped on second to retire Mench and tagged Scutaro for the third out. It was the fourteenth unassisted triple play in baseball history. Cabrera tossed the ball to a fan in the stands behind the Indians' third base dugout.[6]
On May 30, 2008, the San Francisco Giants completed a triple play versus the San Diego Padres, at AT&T Park. In the top of the eighth inning, Kevin Kouzmanoff hit the first pitch, a grounder to third baseman Jose Castillo. Castillo stepped on third base to force the runner from second, Brian Giles. He then relayed the ball to the second baseman, Ray Durham, to force the runner from first, Adrian Gonzalez. Durham then fired the ball to the first baseman, John Bowker, in time to put out the batter, Kouzmanoff, by half of a step.
On April 12, 2009, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a triple play versus the Cincinnati Reds, at Great American Ballpark. In the bottom of the eighth inning with runners on first and second. Reds batter Edwin Encarnacion lined out to Pirates' shortstop Jack Wilson. Wilson relayed the ball to second baseman Freddy Sanchez, doubling Brandon Phillips at second. Sanchez fired the ball to Pirates' first baseman Adam LaRoche retiring Jay Bruce, the runner on first. This was the Pirates first triple play since 1993.[7]
On May 4, 2009, the Arizona Diamondbacks completed a triple play at Dodger Stadium versus Los Angeles. In the bottom of the second with catcher Russell Martin at second and center fielder Matt Kemp at first, Dodgers third basemen Casey Blake hit a line drive that was caught by D-Back shortstop Josh Wilson. Both runners were running on the pitch and were thus caught out on the relay from short to second to first.
On May 20, 2009, the Texas Rangers completed a triple play at Comerica Park against the Detroit Tigers. In the bottom of the fourth, Brandon Inge on second & Ryan Raburn on first, they attempted a double steal, but catcher Gerald Laird hit a line drive that was caught by second baseman Ian Kinsler. He tossed the ball to Elvis Andrus, who touched second & then tagged Raburn for the third out.
A triple play occurred on August 23, 2009 when Eric Bruntlett of the Philadelphia Phillies turned the first ever game-ending unassisted triple play in the National League. Playing against the New York Mets, in the bottom of the ninth inning with men on first and second, Jeff Francoeur hit a line drive up the middle, where Bruntlett (substituting for Chase Utley) was covering with both men moving. Bruntlett caught the ball, tagged second to double up Luis Castillo and then tagged Daniel Murphy from first, thereby completing the triple play.[8] This was only the second game-ending unassisted triple play in MLB history and the first since 1927.
A triple play occurred on September 6, 2009 in a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the San Francisco Giants at Miller Park. Aaron Rowand of the Giants hit a ground ball to Casey McGehee of the Brewers. McGehee stepped on third, threw the ball to Felipe López at second who turned and threw to Prince Fielder at first completing the 5–4–3 triple play.[9]
A triple play occurred on April 22, 2010 in a game between the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees at Oakland Coliseum. Kurt Suzuki of the Athletics hit a ground ball to third baseman Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees. Rodriguez stepped on third base, threw to second baseman Robinson Cano and who then threw to Nick Johnson at first to complete the triple play. Rodriguez is the only active player to be involved in three career triple plays.[10]
A triple play occurred on May 19, 2010 in a game between the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park during the 5th inning. Cristian Guzman hit a liner to center fielder Ángel Pagán of the Mets who dived on the play. Pagán threw to catcher Henry Blanco in the middle of the infield, who then threw to shortstop José Reyes at second. Reyes then threw the ball to Ike Davis at first to finish the triple play.[11]
A triple play occurred on August 9, 2010 in a game between the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field during the 4th inning. Mark Ellis hit a grounder to third baseman José López of the Mariners who touched third base, threw to second baseman Chone Figgins, who then threw to first baseman Casey Kotchman to complete the triple play.[12]
A triple play occurred on April 3, 2011, in a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field during the 4th inning. With A.J. Pierzynski on first and Carlos Quentin on second, Alexi Ramirez bunted the ball in the air, and it was caught by first baseman Carlos Santana. Santana threw to second baseman Orlando Cabrera covering first to retire Pierzynski. Cabrera threw to shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera at second base to retire Quentin and complete the triple play. Asdrubal Cabrera has been involved in all three triple plays that the Indians have turned at Progressive Field. [13]
A triple play occurred on August 15, 2011 in a game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In the top of the second inning with Matt Kemp on second base and Juan Rivera on first, James Loney hit a ground ball to Josh Wilson. Wilson flipped the ball to Yuniesky Betancourt to record the force out at second. Betancourt threw to Prince Fielder at first to record the second out. Fielder then relayed to home plate where George Kottaras tagged a sliding Kemp to record the third and final out. Interestingly enough, the last triple play against the Los Angeles Dodgers, which occurred on May 4, 2009, involved Wilson and Felipe López, both currently members of the Milwaukee Brewers. [14]
A triple play was turned by the Boston Red Sox on August 16, 2011 against the Tampa Bay Rays in the second game of a doubleheader. There were runners on first and second with none out. A ground ball by Sean Rodriguez was fielded at third by Jed Lowrie, who took one step backwards onto the third base bag and fired to Pedroia, who was covering second and then relayed the ball to Adrian Gonzalez at first base for the third out. However, the Red Sox lost.[15]
A triple play occurred in a game between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays on September 27, 2011. The bases were loaded with none out. Mark Teixeira was on third, Nick Swisher was on second, and Jorge Posada was on first. New York catcher Russell Martin grounded a ball to Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria, who covered third to get Swisher, and then threw to Ben Zobrist at second to get Posada, then Zobrist threw to Sean Rodriguez to get a sliding Martin, completing the triple play and ending the inning.
The rarest type of triple play, and one of the rarest events of any kind in baseball, is for a single player to complete all three outs. Typically, this is achieved when an infielder catches a line drive near second or third base (one out), tags the base to double up the runner who started play there (two out) and tags an advancing runner before he can return to his original base (three out).
The most recent unassisted triple play is Eric Bruntlett's, described above. Bruntlett's is the second game-ending unassisted triple play, and the National League's first.
Political columnist and baseball enthusiast George Will, in a baseball quiz in Newsweek for April 6, 2009, p. 60, posed one hypothetical way that a triple play could occur with no fielder touching the ball. With runners on first and second and no outs, the batter hits an infield fly, and is automatically out: One out. The runner from first passes the runner from second and is called out for that rule's infraction. Two outs. Just after that, the falling ball hits the runner from second, who is called out for interference: Three outs.
Whenever a batter or runner is out without a fielder touching the ball, rules book section 10.09 provides for automatic putouts to be assigned by the official scorer. In this case, the first out would be credited to whoever the official scorer believes would have had the best chance of catching the infield fly. The second and third outs would be credited to the fielder(s) closest to the points the runners were, when their respective outs occurred. Under the scenario described above, the same fielder (the shortstop, for example) could be credited with all three putouts, thus attaining an unassisted triple play without having touched the ball.
However, this scenario is extremely unlikely, as it would require a complete disregard by the participating players to the rules of baseball. Most likely, this scenario would only occur in a youth baseball game.