The 9-3 ground-out always involves a pitcher on the sad end, because the play requires a) the right fielder playing exceptionally shallow, and b) a slow hitter.
There are plenty of slow hitters, but most of them are catchers or first basemen. With some power.
There are plenty of slow pitchers, though. So we've seen something like this a few times before:
What's surprising is just how close the play wasn't ... even though Trevor Cahill wasn't lolligagging his way to first base, as pitchers sometimes do. What really makes this play is just how close Gregory Polanco was to the line; being shallow and close to the line made his throw exceptionally short, almost like when the second baseman's set up in short right field for David Ortiz or one of those guys, and has plenty of time to throw him out on a hard grounder.
