Watch: Rangers Affiliate Turns Triple Play
The Down East Wood Ducks put together a franchise first on Sunday to help celebrate the Fourth of July weekend — a triple play.
The Wood Ducks faced the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers and turned a 1-4-3-2 triple play to end an inning, one that was as smooth as it was unorthodox.
Dylan MacLean came on to pitch for the Wood Ducks and immediately got into trouble by allowing a double, a walk and two singles. Kannapolis’ Wilfred Veras hit a grounder back to MacLean, and the triple play was on.
MacLean spun around immediately to throw to Xavier Valentin at second base for the first out. Valentin then threw to Wood Ducks first baseman Abimelec Ortiz for the second out. Most of the time, that’s where the play ends.
But Kannapolis’ Wes Kath decided to try and score from third base, and Ortiz threw quickly to catcher Ian Moller, who tagged Kath out to complete the triple play and end the inning.
The Wood Ducks were established in 2017 and are the Texas Rangers’ Low Class-A affiliate.
"It was crazy," MacLean told MiLB.com. "I saw our first baseman throwing the ball to the catcher, and I didn't really know what was going on. I expected the run to have scored already, and I was shocked when he got him out.”
The Wood Ducks went on to lose the game 4-1. The loss dropped the Wood Ducks to 38-37 on the season.
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