Denorfia’s scramble

Unless you were up late watching the Padres and the Cardinals Wednesday night, you probably missed a heads-up piece of baserunning. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Padres asked Will Venable to attempt a sacrifice bunt. He was to move Chris Denorfia (the potential winning run) into scoring position.

He failed. Sort of. It was an ugly bunt, popped-up foul towards the third base dugout. David Freese and Yadier Molina managed to avoid each other, with Freese making the catching before coming to a stumbling stop against the backstop. Meanwhile, Denorfia managed something new to me—he tagged-up and went to second on the play.

It’s be done before. Sort of. Three times I can find in the Gameday era, none in the Major Leagues. In each case, the batter was retired by the catcher, not the third baseman. Close enough.

Thanks to MLBAM, we know Venable and Denorfia join:

2009-04-11
Augusta @ Savannah (Single-A South Atlantic League)
bottom 11, no outs
Jean Luc Blaquiere bunt pops out to catcher Johnny Monell in foul territory. Sean Ratliff to 2nd.

2008-08-30
Peoria @ Kane County (Single-A Midwest League)
top 8, no outs
Nate Samson bunt pops out to catcher Petey Paramore in foul territory. Elvis Lara to 2nd.

2006-09-02
Cedar Rapids @ Kane County
top 8, one out
Bradley Coon bunt pops out to catcher Anthony Recker in foul territory. Josh Davies to 2nd.

Stand proud.