John Gibbons got creative with his defensive alignment on Saturday night, orchestrating an extreme infield shift against designated hitter Carlos Santana in the first inning of Game 1 of the ALCS.
Third baseman Josh Donaldson played at short, while shortstop Troy Tulowitzki played short right field to keep Santana from pulling any extra bases. Santana, a left-handed hitter with a .256/.364/.541 slash line against right-handed pitching in 2016, took the first strike he saw from Marco Estrada and drove it up the third base line to a nonexistent third baseman.
[mlbvideo id="1206299283" width="600" height="336" /]
If ever there were an argument to be made in favor of bunts -- those against the shift, those with no runners on, those to start a playoff series -- this would be it.
