Bunt Doubles
Posted by Raphy on August 3, 2009
A couple weeks ago Rafael Furcal pushed a bunt over the head of Edwin Encarnacion for a double. The bunt double is a rare occurrence, but not as rare as I would have thought. Since 1988 there have been 17 bunt doubles, including 3 by Furcal. I have compiled a list of these oddities by using the batting splits pages along with the Team Batting Event Finder.
Bunt Doubles Since 1988 Date Batter Tm Opp Pitcher Score Inn RoB Out Cnt Pit RBI Play Desc. +------+---+-------------+-----------------+---+----+-----------------+-----------+---+---+---+---+---+---+-------------------------+ 2009-07-20 Rafael Furcal LAD CIN Micah Owings down 0-3 b 1 --- 0 2-1 4 0 Double to SS (Bunt Popup to Deep SS-3B Hole) 2007-07-02 Juan Pierre LAD ATL Tyler Yates ahead 3-1 b 7 --- 1 2-1 4 0 Double to SS (Bunt Popup) 2004-07-20 Juan Pierre FLA @NYM Steve Trachsel tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 0-0 1 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Double to LF/Bunt (Bunt thru Short LF) 2003-04-30 Endy Chavez MON @MIL Ben Sheets down 0-3 t 4 --- 0 0-0 1 0 Double to LF/Bunt (Bunt thru Deep 3B) 2002-05-03 Corey Patterson CHC @LAD Jesse Orosco tied 3-3 t 7 -2- 0 0-1 2 1 Double to 3B/Bunt; DeShields Scores 2002-04-27 John Vander Wal NYY @SEA Freddy Garcia tied 0-0 t 8 --- 0 0-0 1 0 Double to LF/Bunt (Bunt Line Drive to Deep LF) 2001-06-24 Rafael Furcal ATL @NYM Steve Trachsel down 3-4 t 7 --- 0 0-0 1 0 Double to 3B (Bunt) 2000-08-08 Rafael Furcal ATL @CIN Elmer Dessens tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 0-0 1 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Double to LF (Bunt Line Drive to Deep 3B); Furcal to 3B/Adv on E7 1999-05-31 Abraham Nunez PIT LAD Chan Ho Park down 1-3 b 6 --- 0 0-1 2 0 Double to 3B (Bunt) 1997-07-06 Mike Lansing MON ATL Denny Neagle tied 0-0 b 1 -2- 0 0-0 1 1 Double to RF (Bunt); Grudzielanek Scores 1997-05-13 Tony Fernandez CLE @TEX Matt Whiteside ahead 4-3 t 8 --- 1 0-1 2 0 Double to CF (Bunt Popup to Deep SS-2B) 1997-04-01 Edgar Renteria FLA CHC Terry Mulholland ahead 1-0 b 3 -2- 0 1-1 3 1 Double to 3B (Bunt to Weak 3B); Castillo Scores 1995-08-17 Chad Fonville LAD @CIN Pete Schourek tied 0-0 t 1 --- 0 0-1 2 0 *LEADOFF GM*:Double to 1B (Bunt Popup) 1995-06-21 Robby Thompson SFG @PIT Jeff McCurry tied 4-4 t 9 --3 1 1-1 3 1 Double to 2B (Bunt); Lampkin Scores 1991-05-25 Mitch Webster PIT PHI Jose DeJesus down 0-1 b 2 --- 0 1-1 3 0 Double to 3B (Bunt to Deep 3B) 1990-08-25 Hal Morris CIN @PIT Stan Belinda tied 0-0 t 9 1-- 0 0-0 1 0 Double to P (Bunt Popup to Front of Home); Larkin to 3B 1988-04-08 Mark McLemore CAL OAK Storm Davis down 1-4 b 5 --- 2 0-0 1 0 Double to LF (Bunt thru Deep 3B)
- The last time a bunt double was hit to the right side was 1997.
- Pierre and Furcal are the only players to do it multiple times since 1988.
- Steve Trachsel has been victimized twice.
- Four players did it to lead off a game (the 3 marked as such plus Furcal 2009) and four did it to drive in a run.
- John Vander Wal hit a bunt line drive to deep LF!? Is that right? (EDIT - no it isn't correct)
August 4th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Almost as curious as VanderWals's Deep bunt is...Hal Morris' (sorry always have trouble with s and apostrophe) - How do you get all the way to 2nd on a 'simple' bunt in front of home? Was nobody covering 2nd? 2nd would cover 1st - SS would cover 3B - I guess maybe not then - bow that I 'sound' it out - but it sure does look weird!
August 4th, 2009 at 9:54 am
Can you post a list that goes back just a few years farther back? I remember that Mariano Duncan had some bunt doubles in his career:
July 6, 1985 vs the Dodgers: Double (Bunt to Weak 3B) in the first inning
June 17, 1985 vs the Padres: Bunt double in the first inning, but it doesn't say it in the B-R boxscore (if you google Mariano Duncan bunt double, it is found in the search results)
Thanks.
August 4th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Sorry, the July 6, 1985 game was against the CARDINALS.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Leatherman - I can't easily go further back because I need to use the batting splits to know where to look. However, we can easily search through an individual player's doubles for bunts. Using the PI event finder only returns July 6, 1985 for Duncan.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Any idea why the June 17th game doesn't appear?
August 4th, 2009 at 11:35 am
A lot of the play description info for 1985 is incomplete. It doesn't say where the doubles were just that they happened. My guess is that is the reason why the splits only go back to '88.
In any case Duncan also had a bunt double on May 26, 1985.
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-05-27/sports/sp-6355_1
August 4th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I do not know how you can bunt and hit doubles thats pretty amazing, they must somehow get the bat in a certain position to hit the ball hard, but again, how can they do that?
August 4th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Phil Rizzuto probably had a couple. He was well known as a bunting maestro, and if he saw an infielder charging hard, probably had the ability to push or slap it over his head and possibly into an area where he could reach second.
This also reminds me of Bernie Williams's double to catcher (albeit on a full swing) in the 4th inning of this game: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN200605210.shtml
August 4th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
Willie McCovey vs Woodie Fryman in the 1st on 5/3/1970, PHI @ SF
Don Wilson(pitcher) vs Jim Bunning in the 2nd on 5/7/1971, HOU @ PHI
Jack Brohamer vs Vic Albury in the 3rd on 5/13/1975, CLE @ MIN
Bobby Murcer vs Darold Knowles driving in the tying run in the 9th on 7/21/1976, CHC @ SF
Miguel Dilone vs Allen Ripley leading off the game on 6/5/1978, BOS @ OAK
Darrell Porter(the catcher) vs Dick Drago in the 10th on 6/12/1979, BOS @ KC
Frank Taveras vs Bob Shirley in the 1st on 7/21/1979, NYM @ SD
Alfredo Griffin did it against Jose Guzman in the 4th on 6/21/1987, TEX @ OAK
August 5th, 2009 at 1:42 am
According to one of Dom Forker's trivia books, Frank Howard once hit a bunt triple. The pitcher couldn't get it, and in frustration threw his glove at the ball, which led to a rulebook triple. No date or other details given in the book. There appears to be a bunt home run at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXrudbegAJI
August 5th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Gerry: Possibly the one on 9/2/1964 in the top of the 3rd or the other on 4/22/1965, bottom of the 4th. All the other Howard's triples give the location(CF, LF or RF).
August 5th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Gerry: Are you sure it was scored a triple and not a single with an error on the pitcher? Sometimes people use language casually and use the term "triple" simply to mean that the batter made it to third base, not that it was scored a three-base hit. Seems to me that a player throwing a glove at a ball should be ruled an error, not extra bases on the hit.
August 5th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
Tomepp
Application of rule 7.05(c) which awards three bases for touching a ball with a thrown glove results in a triple not an error. You can see an example in the bottom of the 7th of this game:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ARI/ARI200505280.shtml
You can find a description of the play listed under May 28th in this article:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCI/is_2_65/ai_n26776158/
August 6th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Okay, error on the responder (me), not the pitcher. Would that be an E0? 😉 You can learn something new - especially obscure Major League Baseball rules - every day.
August 9th, 2009 at 12:11 am
[...] Last week I posted a list of all the bunt doubles in the majors since 1988. Included in that list was a peculiar bunt-double by John Vander Wal which was described as : “Double to LF/Bunt (Bunt Line Drive to Deep LF)” [...]