Sports: Baseball: Phillies (4) finesse triple-play against Cincinnati's Reds (1)

Philadelphia Phillies had a tumultuous, joyous 4-1 win over Cincinnati Reds yesterday, in a game where a rare play sent the action under pitcher Cole Hamels into a triple play by his infielders.

The Phillies backed Hamels with their first triple play since May 15, 1999, against the New York Mets. [Yesterday,] With Josh Hamilton on second base and Edwin Encarnacion on first in the fifth inning, David Ross hit a grounder to Phillies third baseman Abraham Nunez, who stepped on third to force Hamilton [out] and threw to second baseman Chase Utley to force Encarnacion for the second out.

The Phillies backed [pitcher Cole] Hamels with their first triple play since May 15, 1999, against the New York Mets. With Josh Hamilton on second base and Edwin Encarnacion on first in the fifth inning, David Ross hit a grounder to Phillies third baseman Abraham Nunez, who stepped on third to force Hamilton and threw to second baseman Chase Utley to force Encarnacion for the second out.

Utley's relay to first baseman Wes Helms caught Ross by a step. The Reds hadn't hit into a triple play since catcher Eddie Taubensee lined into one against San Diego on May 19, 1997.

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"[Ross] was the perfect guy to do it," Nunez said. "I said to myself, 'If I get the ball close to the bag, I'm going to try for it.'"

The triple play helped the Phillies preserve a 2-1 lead.

"I'm sure it saved me 10 or 15 pitches," Hamels said.

"The triple play was pretty exciting," Utley said. "It's the first one I've ever been a part of. It happened so quickly."

There were five triple plays turned in the majors last season, the last by the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 18, against the Detroit Tigers.

The foregoing is a clip from the AP account on MSNBC's Recap on ESPN.com's Baseball page online.