Red Sox: 3 bizarre plays from a wild series finale with Astros

Red Sox turn an unusual double play

Houston attempted to battle back in the seventh inning only for a rally-killing double play to spoil their efforts. This was no ordinary double play though.

Yordan Alvarez reached on a one-out single which brought Gurriel to the plate. The Astros infielder already benefited from the shortest home run you can hit at Fenway earlier in this game. This time, the shortest you can hit a ball in fair territory came back to bite him.

Gurriel hit a tapper in front of the plate that nobody on the field initially reacted to. Gurriel must have thought he fouled the ball off himself or assumed it was rolling into foul territory because he never made a move toward first base. Catcher Christian Vazquez was hesitant to reach down for the ball but he finally picked it up and tossed it to first base for the out.

Alvarez was off on contact and already reached second base while all this was happening. He must have seen Gurriel still standing at home plate and assumed it was a foul ball. Alvarez started jogging back toward first, only to realize that Dalbec had the ball and was racing toward him for the tag. Alvarez tried to retreat to second but it was too late. Dalbec flipped the ball to second before the runner could get there and Alvarez was easily tagged out to complete the double play.

The entire sequence appeared to play out in slow motion. As NESN commentator Jerry Remy remarked, Vazquez had time to read War and Peace before making the throw to first. Both the hitter and base runner had no clue that the ball was in play and the Red Sox defense was slow to react.

Boston’s bullpen retired six of the final seven batters they faced to secure the win. The seventh inning was Houston’s last real chance to rally and it came unhinged by one of the most confusing double plays you’ll ever see.