Padres pitcher Logan Gillaspie explains his two baffling balks vs Cubs
Logan Gillaspie received a not-so-warm welcome back to the big leagues Sunday afternoon.
The San Diego Padres reliever, who had just been called up from Triple-A El Paso before the series finale against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, helped make some unfortunate history when he took the mound in the wacky first inning of the Padres’ 8-7 win.
[MORE: Cubs score two runs via balk in wild first inning vs. Padres]Gillaspie issued two balks during Carson Kelly’s bases-loaded at-bat, allowing both Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong to score. The wild sequence of events capped a five-run inning for the Cubs, who scored two runs via balks in one frame for the first time in franchise history.
“I guess I didn’t know you can’t stop in the windup,” Gillaspie told MLB.com of his gaffe.
Gillaspie was in the midst of a long day — he arrived in Chicago from Oklahoma City mere hours before the 1:20 p.m. first pitch, per Padres MLB.com beat writer AJ Cassavell.
San Diego manager Mike Shildt did not dispute the actions that led to Chicago’s two free runs.
[MORE: What went wrong in Cubs’ missed chance to complete sweep over Padres]“If you stop your windup, in that situation, that’s ruled deceiving the runner,” Shildt said, per Cassavell. “So it’s a balk. And then, he did it again.”
A balk, as defined in MLB’s glossary, occurs “when a pitcher makes an illegal motion on the mound that the umpire deems to be deceitful to the runner(s).” The rule was introduced in 1898, as a means to prevent pitchers from deceiving baserunners. Players had to be much more conservative on the basepaths before the rule change because pitchers could fool them in any way.
In Gillaspie’s case, he needed to declare to the umpiring crew that he would pitch out of his windup instead of the stretch with the bases loaded, and not pause mid-delivery. Third base umpire Nate Tomlinson noticed something was off, though, and called the crew to discuss at the mound. The result was a run for the Cubs, and another one came a few pitches later when Gillaspie spiked the ball in front of himself on the mound.
“The wheels have come off!,” Marquee Sports Network’s Jim Deshaies exclaimed as Tomlinson signaled for the runners to again advance.
The first inning was just a taste of a wild game, though, as the Padres rallied from four runs down to salvage the series finale and avoid a sweep.