Red Sox Engineer Triple Play Against Pirates in Spring Training Game

If you left City of Palms Park a little early Saturday, you missed it.

The Red Sox' 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates ended in unconventional fashion with a wild triple play, causing "Dirty Water" to crank from the loud speakers while fans and media members wondered what happened when they took a sip.

"That was a little unusual," said manager Terry Francona.

The game-ending triple-killing went like this:

Michael Bowden, Boston's sixth pitcher of the afternoon, put the tying and go-ahead runs on base to start the frame, one when he hit former Red Sox farmhand Jonathan Van Every with a pitch.

Gorkys Hernandez then lined a hot shot to shortstop Jose Iglesias, who made the catch before tossing the ball to second baseman Tug Hulett to double off Van Every.

Brandon Jones, who had walked, strayed too far off first and was nearly caught as well when Hulett threw to Aaron Bates. But the ball skipped by Bates, prompting Jones to dash for second.

Ever alert, catcher Dusty Brown backed up the throw and from just beside the Pirates' dugout, he threw to Hulett at second to easily nail Jones.

That's your standard 6-4-2-4 triple play, in case you're scoring at home.

Moments later, Francona's sarcasm was in regular-season form.

"Michael Bowden had a tough time pitching, throwing strikes," Francona said. "He worked behind and except for that play we drew up at the end [had some trouble]. … That was all me."