A Dodgers pitcher committed a balk on purpose, but the strategy failed in a big way
When Major League Baseball adopted the rule of having a runner start on second base in extra innings, the thought was it would eliminate the chance of a game going, say, 16 innings.
Well guess what happened Wednesday night? Yep, the Dodgers-Padres game in San Diego went 16 innings.
But that wasn’t the most amazing thing about the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory. The game also had an intentional balk. That’s not a typo. It was a balk, not a walk.
After the Dodgers had taken a 3-1 lead in the 15th inning, relief pitcher Corey Knebel was called on to close out the win.
The first batter was Padres superstar Fernando Tatis Jr. Concerned about the runner on second stealing signs, Knebel dropped the ball while his foot was on the rubber.
That’s a balk, and Knebel looked around to make sure everyone saw it.
One problem: time had been called.
So Knebel had to intentionally balk for a second time, words that seem absurd to type.
Unfortunately for Knebel and the Dodgers, Tatis rendered the strategy pointless when he hit a game-tying two-run homer.
Here are the two balks and the home run:
This just goes to show that you really never know what you’ll see at a baseball game.
The Dodgers scored two in the top of the 16th inning and Shane Greene pitched a scoreless bottom half to lower his ERA to 8.84.
And Greene didn’t balk but did get the save.
This story was originally published August 26, 2021 at 8:53 AM.
