DeJong starts around-the-horn triple play
All season, Paul DeJong had been listening to teammate Bruce Caldwell call for a triple play. On Sunday, the Double-A Cardinals made it happen.
"Bruce has been wanting to turn a triple play all year," DeJong said. "He's done it a few times in his pro career. Whenever he signals me, I usually smirk and say, 'Yeah, right.' But this time we actually did it."
St. Louis' No. 17 prospect, Caldwell and Luke Voit recorded an around-the-horn triple play in the fourth inning during Double-A Springfield's 2-0 loss to NW Arkansas at Arvest Ballpark.
"It all happened so fast," the 22-year-old third baseman said. "Before the pitch, Bruce signaled to me to step on third and throw it to him. He basically signaled, 'Let's turn a triple play.' Then I got the perfect ground ball to turn it. We got him by a step or two. It was pretty amazing."
The ball came off the bat of the Naturals' Mauricio Ramos after Frank Schwindel led off with a single to short and Kansas City's No. 12 prospect Ryan O'Hearn followed with a walk.
"It really fired up the whole team," DeJong said. "It came at a crucial time in the game as well. It got our pitcher [Daniel Poncedeleon] out of a jam. [There were] lots of high fives and a hug from [Poncedeleon]. It's a pretty rare play that I'm sure I will remember forever."
The play kept the game scoreless at the time and saw a crowd of 3,973 react in contrasting fashion.
"I heard loud cheers from the Cardinals fans in attendance," DeJong said. "I think all the Naturals fans and players were stunned as to what just happened."
But for Caldwell, it was business as usual.
"He acted like he called it and knew it was going to happen," DeJong said. "He made a really quick turn. But he was very excited. Baseball always has fun surprises like that."
The feat was the sixth in the Minor Leagues this season and the second in Springfield history. Greg Garcia, Kolten Wong and Travis Tartamella turned the first one on June 13, 2012.
Northwest Arkansas had runners on first and second again in the fifth, but Carlos Garcia delivered a two-run single to account for the game's offense.
Eric Stout (5-3) picked up the win with three shutout innings in relief of Jake Junis, who yielded six hits over four scoreless frames. Evan Beal threw two perfect innings for his first save of the season.
Michael Peng is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelXPeng