Troy Tulowitzki, SS

The Setup:

The Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies were tied 5-5 in the top of the seventh inning. Zach McClellan had come on in relief of Aaron Cook for the Rockies. McClellan gave up back to back singles to Kelly Johnson and Edgar Renteria putting runners on first and second. Chipper Jones, the Braves third baseman, is the batter.

The Play:

With a count of 3-2, the Braves manager, Bobby Cox, started the runners. Chipper Jones hit a line drive to the shortstop which Troy Tulowitzki caught. He ran to second base to retire Kelly Johnson and then immediately tagged Edgar Renteria who stopped and unsuccessfully tried to back pedal away from him.

The Rest of the Story:

This play occurred in the twenty-first game of Troy Tulowitzki’s first complete season, although he had played in twenty-five games as a late season callup in 2006.

After Tulowitzki recorded the third out by tagging Renteria, he went back to second base and stepped on the base again, and then threw to the first baseman as if to complete the play. He was later quoted as joking, “I was trying to be the first person ever to get about five outs.” In his defense, as he approached second base, he appeared to be more focused on tagging out Renteria and as he stutter-stepped around the bag, he actually might have missed the base. It’s hard to tell from the video if he made contact with second base or not. However, second base umpire, Kerwin Danley, signals all the outs before Tulowitzki goes back to step on second base.

Tulowitzki is the third player who was the leadoff hitter following his triple play. The other two, Neal Ball and John Valentin, both hit homeruns. Tulowitzki’s plate appearance wasn’t as dramatic as he reached base on a hit by pitch. However, he did score the tying run in the bottom of the ninth, as the Rockies went on to win in eleven innings.

This is the only unassisted triple play that has occurred in the month of April.