Tim Anderson, with speed to burn, was on third base. Yolmer Sanchez, who had eighth sacrifice bunts at the time, was the batter. And that meant there could be action.
Cory Provus and Dan Gladden brought up the possibility in the Twins radio booth. Ed Farmer and Darrin Jackson speculated about the same thing during the White Sox radio broadcast.
On the field, pitching coach Wes Johnson went to the mound to speak to righthander Kyle Gibson - and also set up the defense.
"So Wes came out, and that's the first thing he talked about when he came out," Gibson said. "He said, 'They safety squeeze here quite a bit with these two guys.' "
The play came in the seventh inning of the Twins' 6-4 loss to the White Sox on Monday night at Target Field.
And the Twins were ready for the play - until there were two strikes on Sanchez. Sanchez fouled off four pitches. Then, on the fifth, he squared around to bunt. And, although the pitch was shoulder high, Sanchez got the bunt down as Anderson raced in from third.
"Once I got to two strikes, I really wasn't thinking about it a whole lot," Gibson said. "Even Miggy [Miguel Sano] kind of moved away from the line a little bit, I think. Honestly, I kind of felt like -- I don't know that I could have thrown the pitch much better. A little bit higher, and it could go over Castro's head. The ball's about neck-high, and I've got to go back and look at how many guys have actually gotten the ball down in that situation with two strikes and been successful."
The run gave the White Sox a 5-2 lead at the time. It also gave Sanchez nine sacrifice bunts on the season, the most by a position player in baseball. It's a great play for a team trying to tack on extra runs. It's a great play by Sanchez, who had to handle a tough pitch.
