Mariners turn triple play thanks to Evan Gattis' huge base-running blunder

Chris Cwik
·Staff writer
The Mariners needed some help from Evan Gattis to pull off this triple play. (Getty Images)
The Mariners needed some help from Evan Gattis to pull off this triple play. (Getty Images)

Luck was on the Seattle Mariners’ side during Thursday’s game against the Houston Astros. With men on first and second and no outs in the fourth inning, the Astros were in prime position to pull ahead.

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Evan Gattis stepped to the plate looking to give his team the lead. Instead, he managed to run them out of the inning, giving the Mariners one of the weirdest triple plays we’ve seen.

On the second pitch of the at-bat, Gattis hit a grounder to third on a check swing. While the ball was perfectly placed for a triple play, it was moving too slow. M’s third baseman Kyle Seager picked it up, stepped on third and threw over to second for the force out.

For a few moments, that was it. Because the ball was hit softly, the Mariners had no chance at throwing out Gattis at first base. They didn’t even try to turn the triple play.

But before the team got back into their defensive positions, Kyle Seager noticed something strange. Gattis wasn’t standing on first base. He was slowly trotting back to the Astros’ dugout.

Turns out, Gattis completely forgot how many outs there were in the inning. Seager alerted second baseman Robinson Cano, who then threw the ball to Dan Vogelbach at first. At this point, Gattis was already standing on the grass in between first base and the pitcher’s mound. He was easily tagged out and began a long and embarrassing walk off the field.

It was unconventional, but it still counts. The Mariners pulled off one of the rarest baseball plays possible … even if they needed a lot of help from Gattis to make it happen.

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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik

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