NEW YORK, NY – When the Houston Astros put the infield shift on Aaron Hicks, their plan worked perfectly. Hicks grounded to shortstop Carlos Correa who was playing in the second base position. It should have been a double play. The shift worked perfectly for the Astros. Correa was unable to get Gleyber Torres out at second and when Torres realized third baseman Alex Bregman was standing on second with third base wide open, Torres ran to third.
The catcher then ran to cover third. Realizing the entire Astros team was just standing around and watching, Torres then ran home.
Now, we’re not going to criticize the Astros, but every Little League coach knows that the left fielder should have covered third and the pitcher should have been at home plate. At that point in the game, with the entire infield standing and watching on the first base side, any one of the three players not involved in the play could have run home for the play at the plate, but since there were no banging drums, the Astros were dumbfounded on the play.