The Kansas City Royals are hosting the Minnesota Twins this weekend in an early-season battle between two AL Central rivals. The Royals have gotten the better of the Twins so far, taking the first three games in the series. They’re trying to make it a clean sweep on Sunday but they made it a bit harder for themselves after wasting a prime scoring opportunity early.
In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Royals’ second baseman Nicky Lopez stepped to the plate with runners on first and second. With no outs, the stars were aligned for KC to get on the board and erase Minnesota’s 1-0 lead. Presumably, on orders from the bench, Lopez squared to bunt so he could sacrifice himself in order to move the runners ahead. However, that bunt popped directly into the air while Twins’ first baseman Miguel Sano was charging. As both base-runners were already in motion, that made the ensuing triple play fairly easy to pull off, crushing Kansas City’s scoring hopes.
Royals Nicky Lopez attempts a sacrifice bunt and the Twins turn a triple play started by Miguel Sano pic.twitter.com/ILLAQBf7Uw
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 6, 2021
That’s, uh…that’s not how that was supposed to go.
If it makes Royals fans feel better, they did end up getting a run on the board in the fourth inning to even the score at 1-1. They may still pull off the series sweep and stay in the hunt for the AL Central, but that triple play sac bunt is gonna sting for a while all the same.
[Jomboy]
