All triple plays seem to take a little bit of good fortune or a blunder by one side to happen. The White Sox turned their first triple play in nearly 10 years on Friday and needed A LOT of both.
First let's just sit back and watch.
We're gonna need a bigger scorecard ...
— MLB (@MLB) April 23, 2016
@WhiteSox pull off insane 9-3-2-6-2-5 TRIPLE PLAY.https://t.co/hiSCSzXy9k
That starts out as such a simple line drive by Mitch Moreland. Sure it was ripped and with a little more pull would have been in the corner. But, it hardly required a phenomenal catch. That's about the only normal part of the play.
The trouble began for the Rangers when Ian Desmond ventured too far off first base. He actually made it back to the bag in time, only to over run the bag coming back. He danced around a bit to no avail and was caught. Texas then proceeded to compound the problem when Adrian Beltre got stuck between second and third, apparently trying to advance while Desmond was in a bind. The only problem was Prince Fielder didn't budge off third.
With Beltre hung up, Fielder made a dash for it ... and well that didn't go well. Just like that it went from a fairly standard line out to right to a a very unique triple play.
The scoring on that triple play... 9-3-2-6-2-5. #Wow
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) April 23, 2016
According to SABR's triple play data base, the White Sox have turned the first 932625 triple play in MLB history. https://t.co/nvqrZH4HRU
— Christina Kahrl (@ChristinaKahrl) April 23, 2016
In more than 100 years of baseball, that is the first time that has happened.