Bad Timing On Triple Play in 2-0 Reds Win

It happens to all of us. It is one of the corollaries of Murphy's Law.....Anything that can go wrong will.

You go to a sporting event and a rare play happens while you are in line for concessions or in the bathroom.

The last time Dusty Baker was near a triple play was when he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With Brandon Phillips on secondbase and Jay Bruce on first to start the ninth inning, Baker started the runners. Edwin Encarnacion had to swing on the hit and run. He blooped the ball into very shallow leftfield. Pittsburgh shortstop caught the ball in the air. He flipped to Freddie Sanchez to retire Phillips. Sanchez threw the ball to Adam LaRoche to get Bruce by eighty of the possible ninety feet, completing the Pirates first triple play since August 10, 1993.

"It was the first time I've seen one in person. The last time one happened I was in the bathroom. I came out and everybody was grabbing their gloves and I said what happened? They said triple play."

As rare as a triple play is, Wilson and Sanchez pulled off an amazing double play earlier in the game.

Encarnacion singled to start the inning. Ramon Hernandez hit a hard ground ball up the middle barely to the left of secondbase. Wilson dived for the ball and gloved it. He flipped it with his glove to Sanchez. Sanchez had to reach across his body and stretch for the low pitch. He regained his balance with Encarnacion and fired a strike to LaRoche to complete the DP.

Folks will see the play on Sportscenter hundreds of times this week.

Aaron Harang threw 114 pitches in his opening day start, in which he lasted just five innings.

On Sunday, Harang threw a complete game shutout at the Pirates. Complete games are an endangered species in the major leagues. They are especially rare in early April.

"He was masterful," Baker said. "It shows you what kind of shape he's in."

Harang shed 25 pounds this winter before reporting to spring training.

It paid off early.

"It was nice to get a complete game this early," said Harang, who credited catcher Ramon Hernandez and umpire Jerry Layne for their roles in the 2-0 shutout.

"Ramon and I were definitely on the same page," Harang said. "I think I only shook him off once and that was just to change location. Jerry had a good strike zone and he was very consistent. Early on if you can find out what the strike zone is going to be, it's a relief."

The winning margin came on the fourth batter of the game.

Brandon Phillips, the cleanup hitter, hit his first home run of the season off Ian Snell with Wily Taveras on base.

"It was good that Wily got on, so it was a two-run home run instead of a solo homer. I just tried to put a good swing on the pitch," Phillips said. "It was nice to give Wranger the lead. He looks like the Wranger from 06 and 07. It was nice to finally look at the scoreboard and see a zero under errors."

Harang lost 17 game last season after winning 16 in both 2006 and 2007.

"The home run was big," Baker said. "I think it was the first time we scored first. We didn't get many runs for Aaron last year. It was important to get him some and he made them stand up."