CINCINNATI -- The Indians are coming off a tough week. On Wednesday they were no-hit by White Sox left-hander Carlos Rodon at Guaranteed Rate Field. Chicago won 8-0 and it wasn’t that close.
On Saturday in Cincinnati, Eddie Rosario was on third base and Franmil Reyes was on first with no outs in the eighth inning. Josh Naylor sent a line drive to first that Joey Votto caught. Reyes, moving on the pitch, couldn’t get back to first in time and was tagged out by Votto. Rosario, meanwhile, sprinted home thinking Naylor’s liner had skipped off the ground. Votto threw across the diamond to third, where Kyle Farmer stepped on the bag to complete the triple play.
An inning later a routine two-out grounder rolled through Naylor’s legs at first base to start a chain of events that turned a 2-1 victory into a 3-2 loss for the Indians in 10 innings.
You want a bad stretch of baseball misfortune, there it is.
The last team to be no-hit and victimized by a triple play in the same week, according to Elias Sports Bureau, is operating under a new name and in a new city. On Sept. 26, 1983 the Montreal Expos, now the Washington Nationals, were no-hit by Bob Forsch and the Cardinals at Busch Stadium II. The starting right fielder that day for the Expos was none other than Indians manager Terry Francona.
The Expos won, 10-4, the next day, but in the fourth inning Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, with the bases loaded, hit into a triple play. Who was standing on second base with nowhere to go? That would be Francona as the triple play unfolded 4-6-3-4-5.
Anyone can hit into a triple play, be they Hall of Famers or journeymen. Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson, perhaps the best-fielding third baseman in history, holds the record for hitting into four triple plays.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing someone erase my record of hitting into four triple plays,” Robinson has said frequently. “I just had the touch.”
When he wasn’t hitting into them, he was helping turn them. Robinson, a 16-time Gold Glove winner, was involved in three triple plays on defense for the Orioles.
The Indians have turned 32 triple plays in their history. They’ve hit into 27 with Naylor’s 3-3-5 being the latest.
There is symmetry in the Indians’ triple-play history. They are the only team with three players who have turned unassisted triple plays. On the other side, they’ve had three players hit into unassisted triple plays. They are a franchise encapsulated in threes.
On July 19, 1909 Neal Ball of the Naps, who would change their name to the Indians in 1915, turned the first unassisted triple play in history. In the second inning at League Park, Boston had runners on first and second when Amby McConnell sent a hit-and-run liner up the middle. Ball, playing second base, jumped for the ball and made the catch. He forced the runner at second and tagged the runner coming from first.
Hall of Famer Cy Young was pitching that day. As Ball headed to the dugout, Young, according to a SABR profile on Ball, said “Where you going, Neal?” To which Ball replied, “That’s three outs.”
Sometimes the triple play can sneak up on you. Especially if it’s the first of its kind.
The unassisted triple play might be the rarest feat in baseball. It’s happened only 15 times.
The most famous one took place in Game 5 of the 1920 World Series between the Indians and Brooklyn Robins. Indians second baseman Bill Wambsganss, with runners on first and second, caught a line drive by Clarence Mitchell, stepped on second and tagged the runner coming from first. It was the first and only triple play in World Series history.
Do something like that and it’s linked to you forever.
“Funny thing, I played in the big leagues for 13 years and the only thing anybody seems to remember is that once I made an unassisted triple play in a World Series,” Wambsganss told author Lawrence Ritter.
Certainly the most nonchalant unassisted triple play ever turned belongs to Indians second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera. On May 12, 2008 the Indians were playing Toronto at Progressive Field. In the second game of a doubleheader, Toronto’s Kevin Mench and Marco Scutaro hit consecutive singles to put runners on first and second. Lyle Overbay, with the runners moving on the pitch, send a liner to Cabrera that he caught with a dive. He stepped on second and tagged Scutaro.
As Cabrera ran off the field, he casually flipped the triple-play ball into the stands. Asked after the game why he didn’t keep his piece of history, Cabrera just shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
The Indians players who hit into unassisted triple players were Joe Azcue on July 30, 1968; right fielder Homer Summa on May 31, 1927; and first baseman Frank Brower on Sept. 14, 1923.
Hitting into a triple play does not necessarily mean defeat. When Azcue lined into three outs on one swing to Washington shortstop Ron Hansen, the Indians won the game, 10-1, with Sam McDowell pitching and Azcue catching.
The last triple play the Indians turned was at Dodger Stadium on July 1, 2014. Some triple plays are over in a second. This one could have been timed with a sundial.
The Indians were leading, 5-3, in the fourth inning, but the Dodgers had Dee Gordon on third and Yasiel Puig on first. Adrian Gonzalez sent a fly ball to left fielder Michael Brantley, who threw home to Yan Gomes as Gordon tried to score. Gordon was called out, but Puig tried to advance to second as Gomes threw to Jason Kipnis. Puig was called safe, but Francona challenged the call.
After a long replay, the call was overturned and Puig was called out. Then Dodger manager Don Mattingly challenged the safe call at home. It seemed like the debate and reviews would go on forever so Brantley sat down in left field for a rest.
“Where was I going to go?” he said.
Finally, the out call at the plate was upheld and the triple play stood.
There have been 723 triple plays since 1876. Certainly the busiest that the Indians, then called the Naps, were involved in came on May 15, 1913. Although the inning and baserunners from the Naps were not available, the box score shows that the Philadelphia A’s needed work on their rundowns that day at League Park. Here’s who handled the ball before three outs were recorded:
SS Jack Barry to C Ira Thomas to 3B Home Run Baker to P Byron Houck to SS Barry to 2B Eddie Collins to 3B Baker to SS Barry and, finally, to LF Rube Oldring. That would go as a quaint 6-2-5-1-6-4-5-6-7 in the scorebook.
While Brooks Robinson bemoans the fact he hit into four triple plays in his career, he probably feels some sympathy for catcher Sam Pignatano of the 1962 Mets. Not only did he play on a team that lost 120 games, but in his last big-league at-bat, Pignatano also hit into a triple play against the Cubs.
Hey, that’s the beauty of a triple play. Be it good or bad, it sticks to you forever.
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