Red Sox baserunning blunders turn into first triple play in MLB this season

BOSTON — The Red Sox demonstrated some of the worst baserunning you’ll ever see in the major leagues and allowed the Braves to complete the triple play of the season in the third inning of Tuesday night’s game.

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With runners on first and second and no outs in the bottom of the third, Triston Casas lifted a lazy fly ball to center fielder Michael Harris II. Adam Duvall, on first base after walking, drifted way too far off the base and was picked off for the second out. On Harris’ throw to first base, Masataka Yoshida tried to race to third base and was easily thrown out by first baseman Matt Olson. It went down in the books as an 8-3-5 triple play — and none of the outs were particularly close. Yoshida was about halfway down the line when Olson threw to third baseman Austin Riley.

“My instincts told me right off the bat that it was off the end,” Duvall explained. “I’m out there halfway and I’ve got my back to the ball so I’m reading the outfielder. My goal is to get to second if it drops in front of him. I got out a little bit too far and he made a good throw back. It’s one of those things that’s risk-reward and it didn’t go my way tonight, obviously.”

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The Red Sox last hit into a triple play on May 2, 2017 against the Orioles; they last turned one (a 5-4-3) on Aug. 15, 2017 against the Cardinals. According to Baseball Almanac, it was the first triple play in baseball this season (and the 734th in baseball history).

The Red Sox didn’t let the triple play get in the way of a big win against baseball’s best team. Boston took the opening game of a two-game series, 7-1.

“I’m not even thinking about that right now,” Duvall said. “We just got a W so I’ll celebrate that.”