Bruntlett gets unassisted triple play
NEW YORK — Eric Bruntlett was running to cover second base when the liner found his glove for the first out. His momentum carried him right onto the bag. Two outs. Then a quick turn to tag Daniel Murphy as he tried to dance out of the way. That's three outs.
An unassisted triple play!
And get this: it ended the game.
In an instant, the second baseman became the second player in major league history to have a game-ending unassisted triple play, preserving the Philadelphia Phillies' 9-7 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday.
"I didn't know how to react. I didn't know what to do," Bruntlett said. "The ninth inning was wild. The whole game it seemed was strange."
Bruntlett completed the 15th unassisted triple play in big league history. Detroit Tigers first baseman Johnny Neun also ended a game with the play, on May 31, 1927, finishing off a 1-0 victory over Cleveland, according to STATS LLC.
The amazing final sequence made a winner of Pedro Martinez in his return to New York and quashed a Mets rally against closer Brad Lidge.
"What a bizarre ending. I don't know what happened there," Lidge said. "That was pretty exciting. That's definitely not the way you draw it up."
The Mets opened the ninth inning by scoring a run on consecutive errors by Ryan Howard and Bruntlett. Murphy then hit a grounder up the middle that a sliding Bruntlett couldn't handle to put runners on first and second, a play ruled an infield hit.
The Citi Field crowd was rumbling with excitement at the prospect of knocking off their NL East rival after falling behind 6-0 in the first.
And then it wasn't.
Mets manager Jerry Manuel sent the runners on a 2-2 pitch and Bruntlett broke toward second. Just as he was reaching the bag, Jeff Francouer laced a line drive — the hardest-hit ball of the inning — right at Bruntlett, who was starting at second Sunday so All-Star Chase Utley could rest.
"We were trying to push the envelope to get back into the game," Mets manager Jerry Manuel said.
