In the third inning, White Sox catcher Martin Maldonado doubled against Scott McGough. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo then summoned right-handed Thyago Vieira out of the bullpen. For the following nine pitches, the White Sox hitters had a good beat on what Vieira was throwing. Concerned about the possibility that Maldonado was relaying pitches to the hitters, Lovullo took a mound visit with the infield and instructed his pitcher to intentionally drop the ball out of the glove while on the rubber for a balk.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“Yeah it was a forced balk,” said Lovullo on the Diamondbacks postgame broadcast. “Maldonado’s very crafty. He was giving signs, he was 9-for-9, he didn’t miss one. We picked up on what his habit was, he was giving a sign to the hitter nine pitches in a row. We just felt like it was too risky, so I went out there and said let’s force a balk. The kid was too good a hitter that was standing at home plate, he’d be able to check off to something that wasn’t going to be the pitch he was looking for. It just didn’t work out.”
Even though MLB has used the PitchCom system since the start of the 2022 season, it’s still possible to pick up grips from the way pitchers hold the ball in their gloves. Lovullo said nobody does it better than Maldonado, which is why they were willing to give up the 90 feet so the hitters wouldn’t have the advantage. The move backfired, as Andrew Vaughn got a fastball out over the plate and ripped a line drive up the middle to tie the game. The Diamondbacks never led in the game again after that point.
Even without the advantage, the White Sox had no issues defeating the Diamondbacks, with four home runs driving in their final eight runs of the game against Arizona’s bullpen.
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Michael McDermott covers the Arizona Diamondbacks and Arizona Cardinals for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @MichaelMcDMLB
