June 4, 2011

Consecutive Triples

Eric Thames, Rajai Davis, and Jayson Nix of the Blue Jays hit three consecutive triples in the fifth inning of last Wednesday's game against Cleveland.

According to this BRef post, the most recent games with three consecutive triples are:

June 8, 1961, Athletics, Top 3 (G1) - Leo Posada, Norm Siebern, Joe Pignatano

April 25, 1981, Cubs, Bottom 4 - Steve Henderson, Leon Durham, Jerry Morales

May 6, 1981, Expos, Bottom 9 - Mike Gates, Tim Raines, Tim Wallach

(In that Expos game, Andre Dawson followed the three triples with a double. In the 1961 game, Hank Bauer doubled before the three triples. On September 25, 2010, the Rockies had three triples and a home run in four straight batters: Payton 3B, Gonzalez 3B, Tulowitzki HR, Mora 3B.)

The record for consecutive triples in a game is four, set by the Red Sox against the Tigers at Fenway Park on May 6, 1934. In a 12-run fourth inning, Carl Reynolds, Moose Solters, Rick Ferrell, and Bucky Walters tripled. Boston's five triples that day (Reynolds had two) are the most any team has had at Fenway since 1919 (earlier than that, play-by-play data is incomplete).

The only other game (since 1919) in which the Red Sox hit more than three triples at home was on June 30, 1938, when they hit four. Including road games, Boston has hit four or more triples in a game ten times since 1919, though only twice since 1938.

On June 29, 2010, Minnesota's Denard Span hit three triples against the Tigers. It was the 29th time since 1919 that a player has had three triples in a game, though only the fifth time in the last 30 years. The MLB record is four triples, set by George Strief of the Philadelphia Athletics (American Association) on June 25, 1885 and Bill Joyce of the Washington Senators (National League) on May 18, 1897. In Strief's other 43 games that season, he tripled only once.

1 comment:

Michael Holloway said...

In Canada we've been ordering coffee "Double, Double please." for quite some time; in the last year or so I hear it's caught on south of the border --- by your account we definitely did not invent the "Triple-Triple".

It was fun to see some runs plated with power in that game in late May - during what has been a Bautista power-slump during that time (just missing the few hitter's pitches he's been seeing while maintaining a .360 average as he adjusts to the league begins taking him, 'Barry Bonds seriously').

The Indian's scored 4 in the first and then 8 in a 13 batter 3rd - I was thinking of painless ways to end it all - and then Toronto didn't appear to be completely out of it after all - bursting back with 3 in the 5th (the three, 3BHs), 3 in the 6th and 1 more in the 7th. Then the Toronto line-up offered an exciting finish with a rally in a 9th which plated 2 but falling short leaving the tying run in the on-deck circle - 13-9.

As Boston fans probably know - the Indian's staff is starting to show a few chinks (14-2) --- and the bug is catching, minor explosions here and there all over the place it seems.

(how non-Sabermetric of me - I know)

:)