With the bases loaded and nobody out in the eighth inning, Giants batter Brandon Crawford hit a line drive right at Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman. The Society for American Baseball Research, or SABR, has an entire database of triple plays in league history, and thanks to Zimmerman and Rendon, the Nationals put a unique stamp on one of baseball’s long-running lists.
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Oh, with that new face in the infield of Eduardo Nunez.
San Francisco hopes Pence will bring some much-needed life to a team that has won the World Series in every even year this decade – 2010, ’12 and ’14.
But the play also made baseball history, as the 3-3-5 triple play was the first of its kind – ever – in Major League Baseball.
The Giants could have optioned outfielder Mac Williamson to clear a roster space for Pence, and Pea has been a solid contributor at times while batting.299/.330/.425 in 30 games. The Reds bashed a pair of fourth-inning home runs on Monday, and the Nationals knocked Peavy out of the game after scoring three times in their second plate appearances. Derek Law pitched the seventh to get the victory, Sergio Romo recorded three outs in the eighth and Santiago Casilla recorded the save. He was charged with three runs in four innings.
“They were due to hit some with runners in scoring position”, Nationals manager Dusty Baker said of the Giants, only 9 for 50 in such situations six games into their homestand.
Reynaldo Lopez made his second big league start and wasn’t awful, though he continues to have serious command issues. The Giants rallied back from a two-run deficit – Buster Posey would score off a sacrifice fly from Joe Panik, and Hunter Pence scored after Nationals reliever Blake Treinen issued a bases-loaded walk to Trevor Brown.
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After snaring Crawford’s liner, Zimmerman ran to the first base bag for the second out against advancing runner Buster Posey, then threw to third base to nail Denard Span, who had broken for home on Crawford’s shot. San Francisco managed to pull out a 5-3 win over Washington on Saturday after totaling four runs in the previous three games – all losses. The Giants designated infielder Ramiro Pea for assignment. Gio Gonzalez gets the start for the Nationals, while Matt Cain takes the mound for the Giants. He crushed it over the left field wall to make it 2-0, and the Nationals tacked on another run with consecutive hits to start the fourth inning. He would become the sixth pitcher in San Francisco history to win 100 in a Giants uniform, joining Hall of Famers Juan Marichal (238) and Gaylord Perry (134), Tim Lincecum (108), Kirk Rueter (105) and Mike McCormick (104).
