And perhaps the most hilarious play you’ll see in all of baseball this year.
With the bases loaded and Israel up 8-3 in the top of the seventh, Israel’s Scott Burcham (a member of the Colorado Rockies’ organization) dropped down a squeeze bunt with one out. Normally, bunting with the bases loaded is something that would make me scream as a baseball fan (especially when there’s a force-out at home), but in this instance, the bunt ended up being a great call.
Chinese Taipei pitcher Chen-Hua Lin fielded the bunt, and threw to first, as it was his only play. Or, it would’ve been his only play… but nobody was covering first base. That resulted in three runs for Israel, Burcham reaching third base, and a very, very embarrassing play for Chinese Taipei:
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) March 7, 2017
Pitcher for Chinese Taipei just threw the ball to first.
There was no defender at first. pic.twitter.com/X65KPGXUQT
— Avi Miller 🟦 (@AviMiIIer) March 7, 2017
That also broke the game open, and put Israel in great position to start out 2-0 in the World Baseball Classic. They surprised with an extra-inning win over Pool A’s host team, South Korea, in the opener on Monday (early, early Monday in the states).
[MLB Network]
