A very, very rare baseball play happened during the A’s-Angels game on Thursday night in Anaheim.
With no outs and Angels runners on first and third, Juan Graterol hit a comebacker to Oakland pitcher Kendall Graveman. And then things got crazy.
The Angels’ Ben Revere was caught halfway down the third base line, so Graveman chased him back towards third base and was able to tag him out (after a nice pump-fake too). While this rundown was going on, Anaheim’s Cliff Pennington tried to advance from first to third base, but Graveman hurdled Revere to dive and tag out Pennington.
Here’s the bonkers play:
Score that as a 1-unassisted double play!
Never seen this one before: the "1-unassisted" double play by @kage49. #Athletics pic.twitter.com/sc3VJMsZue
— Brodie Brazil (@BrodieNBCS) April 28, 2017
The play even confused ESPN’s gamecast:
https://twitter.com/ktquick/status/857801805211738112
It was Oakland’s first unassisted triple play from a pitcher since Blue Moon Odom pulled it off in 1971, and that was also against the Angels. A’s manager Bob Melvin told the media, “That’s probably the best play I’ve ever seen a pitcher make.”
Unfortunately for the A’s, the play wasn’t good enough to come away with a win, as the 2-1 loss completed a three-game sweep for the Angels.
[SF Chronicle; MLB]