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By Jon Weisman
The good news for Dodger fans: The last time the franchise hit into two triple plays in the same season, it was 1955.
The bad news is that it’s a rough way for this year’s team to connect with the franchise’s first World Series winner.
Today against the Mets, the Dodgers were down, 7-1, in the bottom of the sixth inning but had the makings of a rally. With none out, Dee Gordon singled, Yasiel Puig walked and Adrian Gonzalez singled to score a run and bring up Matt Kemp, who had doubled in their previous run in the first inning.
But Kemp hit a hard grounder to Mets third baseman Eric Campbell, who threw to second baseman Daniel Murphy to begin a tailor-made 5-4-3 double play … that became a 5-4-3-2 triple play when Puig kept running around third and was easily thrown out at home, Lucas Duda to Travis d’Arnaud.
Puig had previously made the final out of a triple play by the Indians on July 1.
Back in 1955, the Dodgers had actually hit into two triple plays in a two-week stretch, and they were by no slouches: May 28 by Jackie Robinson and June 12 by Roy Campanella.
Brooklyn actually hit into three triple plays in 1925, so the 2014 Dodgers might be wise to quit now.
The Dodgers were reeling earlier from a triptych of home runs allowed by starting pitcher Kevin Correia in the first three innings to put the Dodgers in their six-run hole. Then, Carlos Frias was perfect in three innings of relief before surrendering three runs in the seventh, leaving the Dodgers down, 10-2.
Update: The first time the Dodgers hit into a triple play this year, they lost that game, 10-3. They almost repeated that unlikely score today, before Duda’s second homer of the game stamped the contest with an 11-3 label. Duda had a career-high five RBI.
Gonzalez finished 3 for 3 with two doubles, making him 5 for 6 in his past two games with three extra-base hits. Andre Ethier and Gordon each had two hits, the latter adding his 12th triple of the season.
oldbrooklynfan
If Puig didn’t make that dash around third into that triple play, there wouldn’t be too much to talk about after that game. It also showed my Mets fan friends, and there are many of them around here, just an example of what we have in Puig. Oh most already respect him as a hitter.