The Texas Rangers have put the lead-off man on in the bottom of the 9th-12th innings of their game against the Toronto Blue Jays, but they stranded the winning run in scoring position in each of those four innings.
↵In three of those four innings, Ron Washington called for a sacrifice bunt, which the sabermetric revolution has made a rather controversial tactic:
↵↵↵#smrtbaseball "@el_cassidy: @keithlaw elvis sac bunt in 9th & 11th. in related story they didnt score either time"
↵— keithlaw (@keithlaw) May 26, 2012
When Elvis Andrus sacrificed Ian Kinsler over to second in both innings, it gave the Blue Jays a free base to walk Josh Hamilton, which they used in the ninth but surprisingly did not the second time through.
↵Washington, as old-school a baseball man as they come, has never been shy of playing small-ball. In this case, not only did he sacrifice an out, but he also took the bat out of his best hitter's hands with the game on the line.