Los Angeles Angels

Twins' Miguel Sano called triple play hours before game

Published Jun. 2, 2017 6:05 p.m. ET

Ryan Lund

Miguel Sano called his shot hours before the Minnesota Turns turned a triple play Thursday night in a win over the Los Angeles Angels

At least, that's the word on the street.

"Rumor has it, he called it," Twins manager Paul Molitor told reporters after the game. "I don't know if he was excited about the play or being prophetic."

The Twins' third baseman jumpstarted a buttery-smooth 5-4-3 triple play, fielding a chopper that dropped just so down the third base line, before shuttling the ball on to Brian Dozier, who sent it cleanly over to Joe Mauer to end the fourth inning.

This was -- apparently -- always the plan.

"I came early this morning and practiced getting the groundballs down the line, touching third and throwing to second," he told reporters after the game. "Once the situation came, I just kept saying, `[Adalberto] Mejia, just give me the right pitch and I'll get it.'"

https://youtu.be/kA9Rb7N31-o

If so, it's one heck of a prophecy. The Twins hadn't turned a triple play in 11 years entering Thursday's game, and have done it just 12 times in their 56-year history.

Still, he's not the first Twins player -- or even the first Twins third baseman -- to correctly call an "around the horn" triple play.

Gary Gaetti says he made a similar claim after the Twins became the first team to turn two triple plays in one game on July 17, 1990.

"I turned to [Wade] Boggs and the third-base ump and said, ‘The next pitch is a 5-4-3′," Gaetti said after the game. "You can ask ’em."

Sano has a leg up on Gaetti though.

Gaetti's Twins lost that game 1-0.