Prior to Tuesday night, of the 679 triple plays in recorded Major League baseball history dating to 1876, one combination stood out as – by far – the most common. The ‘round-the-horn, groundball triple play had accounted for 61 triple plays, easily outpacing any other form of the three-out play.

Even so, it is a sign of both the rarity and randomness of triple plays that the Red Sox, in their 111-year existence – spanning 17,162 contests prior to Tuesday night – had never turned a 5-4-3 groundball triple play. The team had produced 29 triple plays in their history, including multiple unassisted triple plays, yet did not have a single form of the most prevalent form of the play.

The Sox had seen a 5-4-3 triple play on a line drive by the Orioles in 1967. Third baseman Joe Foy grabbed a liner off the bat of Paul Blair, fired to second to catch Russ Snyder off the bag, and then completed the circuit when Mike Andrews delivered a strike to first baseman George Scott to catch Luis Aparicio straying too far from the bag. Even that incident, however, was unlike what Fenway Park witnessed on Tuesday night in a 6-2 Red Sox loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

In the top of the fourth inning, Erik Bedard had allowed back-to-back hits to B.J. Upton and Casey Kotchman of the Rays. That brought Sean Rodriguez to the plate, a player who had grounded into just five double plays in 310 plate appearances.

According to one estimate, there are 99,000 sq. ft. of fair territory in Fenway. When you add in the possibility of hitting balls off of – or over – fences, the number of possible landing spots and trajectories for a batted ball create a limitless number of combinations.

Yet in order to have a 5-4-3 triple play, those infinite possibilities must narrow into an extremely low-probability incident. With runners on either first and second or first, second and third, a groundball must be hit hard either directly at a third baseman who is guarding the line or slightly to his right, in the direction of the bag.

Of the 99,000 square feet of potential real estate, then, a ball must be hit hard into a window of perhaps 10 square feet. And not only must the ball travel to that spot – such a batted ball must be hit with either runners on first and second or with the bases loaded so that forceouts are in order. Moreover, there can’t be any outs in the inning, since otherwise, the triple play would no longer be in order.

How unlikely is that?

Entering Tuesday, opponents had stepped to the plate 4,548 times against the Sox this year. In just over two percent of those (96), there were no outs with at least two runners on base and forceouts in order at first, second and third.

And given the potentially infinite outcomes of an at-bat – soft grounder to second, line drive to center, strikeout, double to left, home run to right and on and on – one begins to appreciate the statistical improbability of even the most “common” form of a triple play.

And so, it was little short of dazzling to see what transpired, with those present witnessing the equivalent of watching someone scratch a winning lottery ticket. Rodriguez hit a hard two-hopper to Jed Lowrie’s right at third base; Lowrie – who had been anticipating the possibility of stepping on third and firing to first for a double play – recognized the possibility at hand.

He stepped on third to force out Upton and fired a strike to second that Dustin Pedroia received. The second baseman received the ball out in front of him and made the pivot towards first, delivering a strike that nipped Rodriguez by a half-step.

It was the first triple play by the Red Sox of any kind since shortstop John Valentin turned one of the unassisted variety in 1994. Moreover, it was the first ever 5-4-3 triple play on a groundball in the long history of the Sox.

“That’s the first one I’ve ever seen, let alone been a part of,” Lowrie said after the game. “I know that Pedroia is one of the best in the business at turning it, so I knew we had a chance. I got it to him quick and right on target. I know if I do that, he’s got a good chance of turning it.

“That’s one of those plays in baseball that you don’t get to see very often or be a part of. It’s exciting.”

It was not enough to alter the outcome of the game. Nonetheless, where the score of Tuesday’s conclusion of a day-night doubleheader will likely soon be forgotten, the triple play will be remembered by most in attendance.

And that will include the players who were involved in the play, foremost Lowrie, who received the ball from Gonzalez at the conclusion of the inning as a souvenir. He will be able to keep that ball as a marker of a one-of-a-kind play in the storied history of his franchise.