Dodgers Videos: Chase Utley Makes Pair Of Barehanded Plays At Third Base
While they haven’t necessarily needed to with any sort of frequency, the Los Angeles Dodgers have, on occasion, relied on Chase Utley to fill in at third base. Utley had never played the position in the Majors, and has worked with Dodgers bench coach Tim Wallach to grow comfortable at the hot corner.
Some of Utley’s lessons learned were put on display Thursday as he started at third base with groundball pitcher Brett Anderson on the mound. In the bottom of the fourth inning with the Dodgers holding a 3-0 lead, Mac Williamson hit a slow roller up the third-base line.
Utley came charging to make a barehanded scoop and throw over to first base, getting some help from Adrian Gonzalez, who used nice footwork at the bag to record the out.
Utley then made a nearly identical play in the bottom of the sixth inning, this time with Kelby Tomlinson at the plate and Anderson still on the mound. With two strikes, Tomlinson hit a dribbler down the line that Utley sprinted toward to make the play on: