As Buxton and right fielder Max Kepler converged in the gap, Kepler kept yelling “wall” – and crucially, Buxton briefly took his eye off the ball to gauge his proximity to the wall before looking back up to track the ball into his glove.
That’s something that might not have happened earlier in Buxton’s career. In the past, Buxton would often go full-speed into the wall on those plays, sacrificing his body as part of those game-changing efforts. But recently, in part due to the influence of Carlos Correa and other teammates, Buxton has often made sure to look for the wall on such plays, emphasizing self-preservation.
Remember where we mentioned that Buxton had briefly taken his eye off the ball to look for the wall? This is where that becomes critical.
Engel assumed Buxton’s glance at the wall meant the center fielder had missed the ball and that it was landing for a hit. That’s when he took off for third base. Moncada had already been running behind him, apparently having made a similar judgment.
“When he looked toward the wall, I thought he was looking for the ball to go down,” Engel said. “I just made a bad play. Made a mistake on it. Unfortunate. It cost us some runs right there, most likely, and probably would have gone on to win the game.”
“Yoán was really aggressive, which is not the worst thing you can do when you play this game,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “Judgment was wrong and costly.”
https://www.mlb.com/news/byron-buxton-starts-first-8-5-triple-play-in-al-nl-history
To complete the first 8-5 triple play on record in AL/NL history, according to the SABR database that tracks every triple play dating back to 1876.
“I don’t know how much more stuff can be a first in MLB history, so at least it was something left for us in the middle age to kind of grab, I guess,” Buxton said with a smile. “It’s cool. Ain’t too much thought into it other than the triple play got us out of the inning and it kind of got us a little momentum going.”
The feat also marked the 16th triple play in Twins history, and the second involving only two players, joining a 2-6 triple play that occurred back on July 25, 1976 -- also against the White Sox. (Glenn Borgmann, Luis Gomez).
What went wrong for the White Sox baserunners? It appears that Moncada got a bad read. He never hesitated while running from first to second, and that caused Engel to take off after he initially held up to tag and advance.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/twins-triple-play-white-sox/dc3funnbng0lnwgmipbc64ph