White Sox Run Into The First Ever 8-5 Triple Play

If there was a play to sum up, the Chicago White Sox 2022 season to date, it would be with no outs in the seventh inning.

It looked like the White Sox were in the driver’s seat. Jose Abreu hit an opposite-field home run to give the White Sox an early lead in the second. With the home run, Abreu became the first White Sox player to reach 10 home runs this season. Johnny Cueto did not look sharp but managed to perform a highwire act through six innings, limiting the Twins to two runs.

Despite trailing by one run, the White Sox had a great chance to win the game in the seventh inning. Abreu led off with a double, and Gavin Sheets reached after getting hit by a pitch. Yoan Moncada then put together one of his best at-bats of the season, taking a low changeup through a hole into left field to tie the game. At this point, Tony La Russa opted to replace Sheets with pinch-runner Adam Engel.

Engel, who was just activated off the IL, provided the White Sox with more speed and better defense in right field. That is when the wheels fall off. AJ Pollock launched a deep fly ball to center field. Off the bat, the ball initially looked like it had a chance to clear the center-field fence. The ball had a 101.9 exit velocity and a .820 expected batting average, according to Statcast. As it drifted towards right-center, Byron Buxton came flying in to track down the ball just before it reached the wall, robbing Pollock of extra bases.

At the very least, it was deep enough for both runners to tag up. This should have given the White Sox runners on second and third with one out, advancing the go-ahead run 90 feet from home and an insurance run into scoring position. But instead, both runners took off without tagging up. Engel, who was watching the play, saw Moncada running with his head down, so he decided to make a break for third base.

Once Buxton caught the ball, all he had to do was fire it into Gio Urshela at third base. Ursula’s job was easy after that. Moncada was rounding second when the throw came in. He slammed on the breaks but was tagged out by Urshela with ease, who then strolled over and stepped on second base. Engel, who was standing on third base, was called out at second for not tagging up.

Nothing to see here, just a standard 8-5 triple play 🤯

From what looked like an extra-base hit to the end of the inning, the White Sox and their fans are left stunned.

🎥 @Twinspic.twitter.com/MrufWZiJ3f

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) July 5, 2022

It was the first recorded 8-5 triple play in MLB history. It killed all the White Sox momentum and ultimately cost the White Sox their best chance to win. They would go on to lose 6-3 in extra innings.

Tony La Russa has been in baseball a long time, and the base running incompetence even left him dumbfounded.

“Never seen one like it. Potential difference-maker at that point,” La Russa said. “Yoan was really aggressive, which is not the worst thing you can do when you play this game. Judgment was wrong and costly.”

Engel took responsibility for the mishap.

“I’m sure Yoan saw me take off and not tag, and I led him into making an out there,” Engel to reporters. “Everybody did the right thing. Yo was right where he needed to be to hopefully score on that play if the ball gets down. That was my mistake. AJ did his job, Yo was doing the right thing, and I left early and didn’t see the ball get down, which is something that I gotta do there, and it was a big momentum shift in the game.”

Bad baseball has been a theme with this team in 2022, but this incident feels worse than the others. Tagging up is something you learn in little league. Third base coach Joe McEwing and first base coach Daryl Boston are also at fault. At least one of them should have been able to relay the message to go back and tag up once it looked like Buxton had a chance to catch it.

The White Sox are now 16-22 at home at 5.5 games back of first place. Should the White Sox miss out on the postseason, you can look back at this moment as yet another one of the countless examples of why it happened.