He may have made the decision to bunt on his own, but it wasn't a bunt for a hit. He squared away earlier in the AB, any element of surprise was gone, and he squared away so early there wasn't any question his first objective was to sacrifice. The "entire side of the infield" wasn't open. Boston wasn't in a shift. I don't think anyone has said that one play lost the game. IMO it certainly contributed, however. As for the DP, Polanco has grounded into 3 DPs this year, in 274 ABs...a little over 1 percent chance. He's hitting in the .330's, so he had roughly 30 times more chance of a hit than grounding into a DP. If you just take ABs with runners on 1st, 1st and 2nd, or bases loaded, he has 67 ABs, so about a 4 percent chance of grounding into a DP. And that, of course, ignores the possibility of a walk. He might also have advanced both runners, or one runner, while making an out. And, of course, he might have roped a double into the corner, setting up a big inning and putting the game away. The entire subject of DPs, for that matter, is too insignificant to worry about. The Twins have grounded into 41 DPs this year, in over 2700 PAs. Too rare to give up one out intentionally on the chance of not giving up two. BTW, it's not "convenient" to point out the strategy failed. Simply moving a runner from second to third is no guarantee the run will score.