Triple play ends Rangers rally in shutout loss to White Sox
CHICAGO (AP) -- A complete breakdown on the basepaths took all the momentum away in matter of seconds for Adrian Beltre and the Texas Rangers.
The Rangers ran into their first triple play in nearly 25 years to halt a potential rally in the seventh inning as the Chicago White Sox won 5-0 on Friday night.
White Sox starter Jose Quintana retired 11 straight through six innings until he loaded the bases on Prince Fielder's double, Beltre's single and a walk. Mitch Moreland drilled a ball down the right field line that Adam Eaton caught on the run as the runners took off.
Then, chaos.
Eaton threw to first to get Ian Desmond, and the White Sox eventually got Fielder in a rundown between third and home to finish the play. It was the first time Texas got caught in a triple play since June 1, 1991, against Seattle, and the first one the White Sox turned since Sept. 18, 2006, against Detroit.
"We all screwed up, all three," said Beltre.
"It was not funny. We had a good inning going on there and there was no outs and Mitch put a great swing on the ball. We were unlucky that Eaton was playing in that spot and the base runners screwed up."
Eaton is chalking up the play as one of his career highlights.
"Besides marrying my wife and the birth of my kid, that's high up there," Eaton said, smiling. "I've never had that much fun on a ballfield."
Fielder got a bad read on the ball and, like the other two base runners, thought it was going to drop.
"I (messed) up. I told Mitch I (messed) his RBI up. It was mess up," Fielder said. "He hit the hell out of it and I thought it was getting down and I broke. Once I broke there was no way I can get back and go so I just messed it up."
Quintana (2-1) allowed just four hits over seven innings to help snap the Rangers' four-game winning streak. Brett Lawrie had a two-run double in a three-run sixth off Rangers starter Martin Perez (0-2).
It was the first non-quality start of the season for Perez, but he got no help from an offense that had 13 hits in six innings against Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel a day earlier.
Eaton also singled and doubled, scoring on Jose Abreu's third-inning sacrifice fly.
It was 45 degrees at first pitch, with the wind making it colder and holding up fly balls as Lawrie wore a ski mask.
The White Sox went ahead 1-0 on Perez's second-inning wild pitch. The ball squirted just to catcher Bryan Holaday's right, but he couldn't find it. As Perez ran toward home pointing to the ball, Melky Cabrera scored from third after reaching base on a single.
Chicago's triple play was the first in the majors this season. Matt Albers extended his scoreless streak to 31 innings and Zach Putnam pitched the ninth to finish the five-hitter.
Delino Deshields got caught in between first and second on an attempted steal in the first inning. Rangers manager Jeff Bannister is not concerned about the recent gaffes.
"No. We've been a good base-running ballclub, we've been one of the better base-running clubs in all of baseball," he said. "To have a play like that, to focus on that, and consider that being a concern, absolutely not."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rangers: Ace Yu Darvish (Tommy John surgery) decided to throw another live batting practice, pushing his first minor league rehab start to May 1. Pitching coach Doug Brocail said Darvish could still make his major league return as soon as May 16 at Oakland. ... Reliever Keone Kela (elbow) underwent surgery and will be out three months.
White Sox: C Dioner Navarro was attended to, but stayed in after Ryan Rua's foul tip ripped off his mask in the second.
BELTRE MILESTONE
The Rangers' Adrian Beltre started his 2,500th game at third base. Only Brooks Robinson (2,870) has started more games there.
DESHIELDS' BLUNDERS
DeShields made his third base-running blunder in as many days. He broke for second when Quintana threw to first in the first inning and was tagged out in a rundown. DeShields was picked off Wednesday and thrown out trying to go from first to third on a single Thursday that negated a run.
UP NEXT
White Sox LHP Carlos Rodon (1-2, 4.73) looks to recover from a career-worst outing Saturday when he faces Rangers RHP Colby Lewis (1-0, 4.00). Rodon allowed five runs, six hits and two walks in 1/3 of an inning in Monday's loss to the Angels.
