The Chicago White Sox hit into one of the worst triple plays you will ever see in baseball.
With the game tied at two runs apiece in the bottom of the seventh inning vs. the Minnesota Twins, the Chicago White Sox somehow found a way to hit into the worst triple play of all time.
Chicago had already plated one run in the inning off Twins right-hander Griffin Jax on a Yoan Moncada base knock. Right before A.J. Pollock stepped into the batter’s box, Adam Engel would be substituted into the game for Gavin Sheets on second base, who was hit by a pitch in his at-bat. With Engel on second and Moncada on first, Pollock flied out to Byron Buxton in deep centerfield…
After that, it was nothing short of pure base-running insanity for the White Sox to get tripled up.
For the first time in MLB history, an 8-5 triple play was recorded. It should have never happened.
Chicago White Sox hit into the worst triple play you could possibly ever imagine
So how did this base-running catastrophe even happen? Well, neither Engel or Moncada tagged up. Yes, Buxton made one helluva a play to come up with the grab in center, but what were Engel and Moncada doing?! Engel was brought into the game to run instead of Sheets and could not even bother to tag up. Moncada was running like a mad man only to make matters even worse.
Naturally, this horrendous triple play in the bottom of the seventh inning ended any potential rally for the White Sox. This game went into extra innings, where the Twins plated four runs in the top of the 10th frame. Chicago did put one run across in its final at-bat, but everybody and their brother can look at the base-running blunder of the century to why the White Sox lost the game.
With this loss, Chicago fell to 38-40 on the season, while Minnesota improved to 46-37 on the year. The Twins are 5.5 games ahead of the White Sox in the AL Central race, as Chicago finds itself four games back of the last AL Wild Card berth. This is a season where the White Sox had to push for the AL pennant. Instead, this reeling team is falling apart at the seams under Tony La Russa.
A team can never afford to drop a home game to a division rival it is chasing, especially like this.