Minor League Baseball

Colorado Rockies' Minor League First Baseman Keston Hiura Records Wild Putout

Keston Hiura fielded a ground ball and ran all the way across the diamond for an unassisted putout at third base in the Albuquerque Isotopes' win over the Tacoma Rainiers on Thursday.
Sam Connon|
Tigers first baseman Keston Hiura catches the ball against the Yankees during the first inning of the Grapefruit League season opener at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida.
Tigers first baseman Keston Hiura catches the ball against the Yankees during the first inning of the Grapefruit League season opener at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Colorado RockiesMilwaukee Brewers

The Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes were clinging to a one-run lead over the Tacoma Rainiers on Thursday when their defense came through in a bizarre clutch moment.

A leadoff single and double gave the Rainiers (Seattle Mariners affiliate) two runners in scoring position with no outs when Cole Young stepped to the plate in the top of the fifth. Young sent a sharp grounder to first baseman Keston Hiura, with the Rainiers hoping to plate at least one run against the Rockies affiliate.

Jack López stayed put at third, though, all while Samad Taylor made a break from second. Instead of risking a wild throw, Hiura fielded the ball cleanly and trotted across the diamond to tag out Taylor.

The end result was a fielder's choice that was scored as a rare 3-unassisted putout at third base.

López scored on a groundout to second in the next at-bat, partially diminishing the impact of Hiura's play. The run tied the game at 3-3.

Both teams scored a run in the seventh inning, and Albuquerque scored one in the ninth to take the 5-4 victory.

Hiura finished the contest 1-for-2 with two walks.

The 28-year-old infielder joined the Rockies on a minor league during offseason. He split last season between the Los Angeles Angels and Detroit Tigers, coming off the back of seven years in the Milwaukee Brewers' system.

Milwaukee took Hiura in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft, and he proceeded to post a 1.5 WAR in 284 big league games between 2019 and 2022. He got a brief taste of MLB action with the Angels in 2024, but he hasn't been on an active major league roster since last July.

It will take more than one defensive highlight to convince the Rockies to promote Hiura, who is batting .200 with a .658 OPS in Triple-A this season. But the veteran is doing his best to stay afloat, demonstrating his abilities at both first and second base in case Colorado needs reinforcements.

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Sam Connon
SAM CONNON

Sam Connon is a staff writer for “Minor League Baseball on SI’’ and other "On SI'' baseball sites. He previously covered UCLA Athletics for “UCLA on SI’’ and won awards from the College Media Association and Society of Professional Journalists. Connon also wrote for “New England Patriots on SI’’ and was on the Patriots and Boston Red Sox beats at Prime Time Sports Talk. Follow Sam on Twitter @SamConnon.

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