BOSTON — When a sport begins with an hour-and-40-minute rain delay, a 4-1-5 double play and a prolonged PitchCom delay all earlier than the third inning, it’s a secure guess {that a} evening of bizarre baseball lies forward.
In a 7-1 loss to the Red Sox in Tuesday’s sequence opener at Fenway Park, the Braves turned the primary triple play within the Majors this season, and the membership’s first since a May 6, 2004, contest in opposition to San Diego.
“Win or lose, you don’t see that every day,” stated Michael Harris II, who put the triple play into movement.
With males on first and second within the backside of the third, Harris caught a fly out from Triston Casas, which regarded deceivingly nicely hit off the tip of the bat however registered at a 76-mph exit velocity, per Statcast.
“Based off the swing, it looked like [Casas] hit it pretty well,” Harris stated. “I guess he got it off the end and it was a little dead. I even took a step back initially and then came in hard.”
Harris fired the ball to Matt Olson at first base, the place Adam Duvall was thrown out after a misinterpret of Casas’ swing put him too far in between first and second. Without hesitation, Olson threw the ball throughout the diamond, the place Austin Riley nabbed Masataka Yoshida at third to finish the triple play. It was the primary triple play Boston has hit into since May 2, 2017, in opposition to Baltimore.
“I got out a little bit too far and he made a good throw back,” Duvall stated. “It’s one of those things, it’s risk-reward and it didn’t go my way today. If I don’t get doubled off, that doesn’t happen [to Yoshida]. I take that responsibility.”
The triple play marked a profession first for all three Braves concerned. With Harris placing issues into movement, it marked simply the fifth triple play since 2000 that was began by a middle fielder, and the primary 8-3-5 triple play for the reason that Boston Beaneaters turned one in opposition to the Providence Grays on June 7, 1884, in accordance with SABR’s Triple Plays Database.
Atlanta’s triple play was the primary in Interleague Play for the reason that Reds turned one in opposition to the Guardians on April 17, 2021. Nine of the ten since then earlier than Tuesday had been in American League matchups, with the lone National League triple play turned by the Nationals in opposition to the Brewers on May 20, 2022.
“I’ve never been a part of one, so I can check that off and say I’ve done it,” Riley stated.
The triple play was a reduction for starter Charlie Morton, who was chased after 3 2/3 innings. Morton opened the sport with a 33-pitch first inning, essentially the most pitches he has thrown in a single body this season.
“They weren’t really chasing anything, I wasn’t getting a lot of swing and miss, five walks,” Morton stated, “just a bad outing.”
Morton gave up 4 runs for the second straight begin, following his 5 2/3-inning outing in opposition to the D-backs on July 19. In that begin, Morton generated 22 swings and 6 whiffs on his curveball, in comparison with simply three whiffs on Tuesday. His seven whole whiffs on all pitches are the second lowest for the right-hander this season.
“That’s just me being off, like really off in my timing and my delivery,” Morton stated. “There were so many pitches there that weren’t executed. That’s more I think just staying in my delivery and timing and today was just not a good day for that.”
Entering Tuesday, Morton had struck out a Major League-leading 356 hitters along with his curveball courting again to 2020. His lone strikeout within the sequence opener got here on a 1-2 curveball that Connor Wong swung and missed on to finish the grueling first inning.
“He had to really work through the first inning and he really didn’t have his good breaking ball tonight,” supervisor Brian Snitker stated. “He battled through it. … But he just wasn’t on tonight. Charlie needs his breaking ball to be real effective and he didn’t have a really good one tonight, but that happens.”
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