Despite nearly 200 years of history and more than 235,000 MLB games played, baseball continues to find ways to surprise fans. One very clear instance of bizarre baseball history was made Tuesday night, during the eighth inning of the Marlins’ 6–4 win at the Mets, when Richard Bleier faced Pete Alonso.
After surrendering a two-out base hit to Jeff McNeil, Bleier was called for three balks against Alonso. As a result, McNeil went all the way from first base to home, scoring a run for the Mets over the course of the truly strange at-bat.
Balks are called when an umpire deems a pitcher makes an illegal move that could deceive a baserunner. Often, it is pretty obvious the pitcher has erred. However, Bleier’s illegal movements were very subtle at best, and the Marlins pitcher—who hadn’t been called for a balk in 303 appearances over seven Major League seasons before Tuesday—was not happy at all about the calls.
“Words cannot describe what happened in that inning on my end,” said Bleier after the game, per ESPN. “I don’t know. It was wild.”
Players are not allowed to argue balks, and are subject to ejection for doing so. The umps were lenient with a very angry Bleier after the three pitches, but after the inning, which came to a close when he ultimately retired Alonso, he was ejected alongside Marlins manager Don Mattingly.
“I know I’m gone the minute I walk out of the dugout,” Mattingly said. “It’s just ridiculous. I guess you see something new every day in this game, and that was new for sure.”
After the game, first base umpire John Tumpane explained he believed Bleier had not come to a complete stop before his delivery, causing the balk calls.
“From where I was, I didn’t have [Bleier] come to a complete stop before delivering to the plate,” he told MLB.com. “So I called the balk. It obviously happened again. I tried to give an explanation to clear it up.”
“It’s the same move I’ve been doing for 300 innings, and here we are,” Bleier said after the game. “Maybe I was balking. I watched the video. I completely disagreed, but I’m biased, so I don’t know.”
Bleier previously played for Mets manager Buck Showalter when both were with the Orioles. Showalter said after the game he wasn’t surprised about the triple balk calls.
“I’ve had Richard. We were told a little while ago, not too long ago, that there was a thing about that—pitchers not coming to a complete stop,” Showalter said. “We knew it was something they were going to be cracking down on a little harder. A lot of those things are in the eye of the beholder. I’m not really surprised by it, but it’s their business.”
Bleier is the first MLB pitcher to balk three times in an inning since the Pirates’ Jim Gott in 1988, also against the Mets. According to Elias Sports Bureau, he is the first pitcher since 1900 to balk three times in the same at-bat.
