Which player completed an unassisted triple play against the Mets today?”
Second baseman Eric Bruntlett turned an unassisted triple play to end the Philadelphia Phillies’ wild 9-7 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday. It was the 15th unassisted triple play in major league history — the second that ended a game. Detroit Tigers first baseman Johnny Neun also accomplished the feat on May 31, 1927, completing a 1-0 victory over Cleveland, according to STATS LLC. Bruntlett’s triple play preserved a win for Pedro Martinez in his return to New York and quashed a Mets rally against closer Brad Lidge.
A baseball event even more rare than the much ballyhooed perfect game tossed by White Sox’ Mark Buehrle happened today. Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Eric Bruntlett turned just the 15th unassisted triple play in history to close out a 5-4 win over the New York Mets at Citi Field. With the runners on first and second stealing, Mets outfielder Jeff Francoeur smoked a line drive up the middle that Bruntlett was able to snag. He then stepped on the bag at second and tagged the runner from first to end the game. http://blogs.suntimes.com/sportsprose/2009/08/eric_bruntlett_turns_unassiste.html It happened so fast, Eric Bruntlett needed a few moments before he realized he had just ended a game with an unassisted triple play. Bruntlett became the second player in major league history to get the final three outs on his own, accomplishing the feat Sunday to preserve the Philadelp
The Mets trailed 9-6 in the ninth when Angel Pagan, who had homered twice, ripped a ball through Ryan Howard’s legs at first and down the line for a three-base error. Eric Bruntlett then booted Luis Castillo’s grounder and Pagan scored to make it 9-7. Daniel Murphy reached on an infield single when Bruntlett smothered his grounder but couldn’t make a play. Francoeur came up and, with Castillo and Murphy running, drilled a liner up the middle. But Bruntlett snared it at second base, stepped on the bag for the second out and tagged Murphy for the final out. Martinez got his first taste of Citi Field not from the pitcher’s mound on Sunday, but the batter’s box, coming to bat at the end of a six-run first inning off Oliver Perez. That was bad enough.
