DENVER (AP) -Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki covered all the bases to ensure his unassisted triple play Sunday.
Tied at 5 in the seventh inning, Kelly Johnson and Edgar Renteria singled for the Atlanta Braves and were running on a 3-2 pitch when Tulowitzki caught Chipper Jones’ line drive behind second base. The rookie stepped on the bag to double up Johnson and then tagged Renteria for the third out.
“The line drive came right at me. I caught it, went to the base, tagged the guy coming in (Renteria),” Tulowitzki said. “It happened so quickly.”
There was nothing Renteria could do to avoid the tag.
“I was running on the play because it was a 3-2 count,” Renteria said. “I had nowhere to go.”
Apparently unsure if he had completed the play properly, Tulowitzki went back and touched second base again, then threw to first. Nothing to worry about – the inning was already over.
“As soon as I saw the runners take off, you think of a triple play, but it rarely happens,” Tulowitzki said.
It was the 13th unassisted triple play in major league history and first since shortstop Rafael Furcal did it for Atlanta on Sept. 10, 2003, against St. Louis.
“It’s amazing,” Tulowitzki said. “It kind of just fell in my lap.”
The Rockies avoided a three-game sweep when Matt Holliday hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning for a 9-7 victory.
Tulowitzki also turned the second triple play in the Rockies’ 13-year history. The first happened April 10, 2003, against the Cardinals.
Philadelphia turned the only other triple play in the majors this season against Cincinnati on April 21.
With one out in the 11th, Steve Colyer (0-1) walked Todd Helton, who set a club record with five. Holliday then drove a 2-2 fastball over the fence in center field.
Holliday was hitless in his first four at-bats including grounding into two double plays. He had an RBI infield single in the ninth as the Rockies tied the game against closer Bob Wickman.
Denny Bautista (1-0), called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs earlier in the day, worked a scoreless 11th for the win.
“I haven’t had time to file this one away,” Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. “We needed the win like a hog needs slop.
“We had a lot of people out there throwing different things out there, we had an unassisted triple play, a couple of big double plays, some big hits, a ninth-inning rally to tie it up, Bautista gets the win after just getting here today.”
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