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2014 Blue Jays are first team to complete two walkoff bunts in one season since the 2005 Twins

By Minor Leaguer
Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

On Tuesday night, the Toronto Blue Jays had a walkoff win over the New York Yankees on a Melky Cabrera sacrifice bunt attempt. Jose Reyes reached on a double to start the inning, and Cabrera dropped a bunt towards the third base line in hopes of advancing the runner; however, a moment of hesitation over who would field the ball between pitcher Adam Warren and third baseman Yangervis Solarte led to a rushed throw by Solarte that sailed past first base.

This was actually the second time Toronto had walked off on a bunt attempt this season. Less than a month ago, Anthony Gose bunted to Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Juan Carlos Oviedo, who fielded it and threw low to first. Kevin Pillar scored all the way from first base on the play.

Bunt walkoffs are a fun, but rare, breed of baseball plays[citation needed], so it is pretty incredible to have a team have two of them in one season and probably even rarer to have a team do so before the halfway mark of the season.

Baseball-Reference's Play Index allows subscribers to look for specific incidents like a walkoff bunt in their Event Finder tool. That search revealed that there have been 37 walkoff bunts since 2001 (the list may be incomplete as a "bunt" event relies on the proper description of a play, which is less reliable than counted events like a single or a home run).

Date Batter Tm Opp Pitcher Score Inn RoB Out Pit(cnt) WPA
1 2001-05-09 Chris Truby HOU PHI Ricky Bottalico tied 6-6 RoE b9 12- 0 4 (2-1) 0.18
2 2001-08-25 David Bell SEA CLE John Rocker tied 2-2 RoE b11 12- 0 2 (1-0) 0.18
3 2002-06-20 Jose Macias MON KCR Scott Mullen tied 4-4 RoE b11 -2- 0 5 (3-1) 0.19
4 2003-04-19 Ronnie Belliard COL SDP Brandon Villafuerte tied 9-9 FC b9 1-3 1 1 (0-0) 0.17
5 2003-04-19 Glendon Rusch MIL HOU Scott Linebrink tied 2-2 1B b14 123 1 2 (0-1) 0.17
6 2003-04-20 Joe Randa KCR DET Mike Maroth tied 3-3 RoE b9 -2- 0 1 (0-0) 0.18
7 2004-04-28 Bill Hall MIL CIN Todd Van Poppel tied 9-9 1B b10 3 1 1 (0-0) 0.17
8 2004-05-26 Keith Ginter MIL LAD Duaner Sanchez tied 1-1 RoE b12 12- 0 3 (1-1) 0.18
9 2004-07-02 Royce Clayton COL DET Jamie Walker tied 8-8 1B b10 -2- 0 1 (0-0) 0.18
10 2005-04-16 Marco Scutaro OAK LAA Scot Shields tied 0-0 RoE b10 1-- 0 1 (0-0) 0.28
11 2005-07-22 David Eckstein STL CHC Sergio Mitre tied 1-1 1B b11 3 1 3 (1-1) 0.17
12 2005-08-06 Nick Punto MIN BOS Mike Timlin tied 3-3 RoE b9 -2- 0 1 (0-0) 0.18
13 2005-09-03 Nick Punto MIN CLE Bob Howry tied 2-2 1B b9 -2- 0 2 (1-0) 0.18
14 2005-09-04 Brady Clark MIL SDP Akinori Otsuka tied 2-2 FC b9 1-3 1 2 (1-0) 0.18
15 2005-09-18 Dave Roberts SDP WSN Joey Eischen tied 1-1 RoE b9 12- 0 5 (3-1) 0.19
16 2006-05-16 Damian Miller MIL PHI Ryan Franklin tied 2-2 RoE b9 12- 0 1 (0-0) 0.18
17 2006-05-22 Pablo Ozuna CHW OAK Ron Flores tied 4-4 1B b10 1-3 2 1 (0-0) 0.35
18 2006-06-14 Jeremy Hermida FLA ATL Mike Remlinger tied 5-5 FC b10 12- 0 1 (0-0) 0.18
19 2007-04-24 Endy Chavez NYM COL Ryan Speier tied 1-1 1B b12 -23 2 2 (0-1) 0.36
20 2007-07-26 Josh Fields CHW DET Zach Miner tied 3-3 RoE b9 1-- 0 3 (1-1) 0.28
21 2007-09-28 Melvin Mora BAL NYY Edwar Ramirez tied 9-9 1B b10 123 2 2 (1-0) 0.34
22 2008-08-30 Ryan Sweeney OAK MIN Joe Nathan down 2-1 RoE b9 12- 0 2 (1-0) 0.48
23 2008-09-03 Jacoby Ellsbury BOS BAL Jim Miller tied 4-4 FC b9 12- 0 1 (0-0) 0.17
24 2009-04-14 Yuniesky Betancourt SEA LAA Scot Shields tied 2-2 RoE b10 -2- 0 2 (1-0) 0.19
25 2009-10-04 Jeff Fiorentino BAL TOR Brandon League tied 4-4 RoE b11 12- 0 3 (1-1) 0.18
26 2010-04-28 Howie Kendrick LAA CLE Chris Perez tied 3-3 1B b9 1-3 2 1 (0-0) 0.37
27 2010-05-17 Jason Bartlett TBR CLE Jamey Wright tied 3-3 FC b11 1-3 1 3 (1-1) 0.18
28 2010-06-10 Craig Counsell MIL CHC Bob Howry tied 4-4 Out b10 1-- 0 3 (2-0) 0.29
29 2010-08-01 Marco Scutaro BOS DET Robbie Weinhardt tied 3-3 1B b9 12- 0 3 (1-1) 0.18
30 2010-08-16 Adam Jones BAL SEA Sean White tied 4-4 1B b11 3 2 2 (1-0) 0.37
31 2011-05-28 Jonathan Lucroy MIL SFG Guillermo Mota tied 2-2 1B b9 123 1 2 (1-0) 0.17
32 2011-09-26 Angel Sanchez HOU STL Octavio Dotel tied 4-4 1B b10 1-3 0 1 (0-0) 0.07
33 2012-06-08 Wilson Valdez CIN DET Phil Coke tied 5-5 FC b10 3 1 1 (0-0) 0.17
34 2013-04-28 Coco Crisp OAK BAL Pedro Strop tied 8-8 RoE b10 12- 0 1 (0-0) 0.19
35 2013-09-17 Logan Schafer MIL CHC Justin Grimm tied 3-3 Out b9 123 1 3 (1-1) 0.17
36 2014-05-28 Anthony Gose TOR TBR Juan Carlos Oviedo tied 2-2 1B b9 1-- 0 1 (0-0) 0.29
37 2014-06-24 Melky Cabrera TOR NYY Adam Warren tied 6-6 RoE b9 -2- 0 1 (0-0) 0.19

Data from Baseball-Reference. Click to see original tables [2001-2007, 2008-2014].

As you can see, the two that the Blue Jays had this year were their first two in this century; while the Milwaukee Brewers seem to be the King of Walkoff Bunts, recording eight of them since 2001. The 2004 Brewers completed two of them in one season, but the latest team to do it before the Blue Jays were the 2005 Twins. Interestingly, in all three cases, one of the walkoffs were ruled a single and the other a reached on error, and the two walkoffs occurred within a month of each other.

Thanks goes to @simon_shargot for asking the question, although this doesn't really answer it.

Unrelated #1

Colby Rasmus is the best.

Now, in front of Rogers Centre, chicken hot dogs are gonna sell like hot cakes.

Unrelated #2

You know how first base coaches always signal "safe" when a close play happens no matter if their team's runner is safe or not? Blue Jays first base coach Tim Leiper certainly didn't get that memo:

Unrelated 3

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