Rangers’ Mitch Garver Tricked Blue Jays Pitcher into Costly Balk, and MLB Fans Loved It

This was so smart.

Baseball is a beautiful sport in which on any given day you might see something happen in a game that you’ve never seen happen before. 

That occurred in Monday night’s Rangers-Blue Jays game when Texas catcher Mitch Garver found a brilliant way to trick Toronto pitcher Chris Bassitt into being called for a balk. That call allowed Garver to walk home for the game’s first run.

Garver was at third base and, with nobody covering the bag, he made his way really far down the baseline, which got Bassitt’s attention. The pitcher then ran at Garver and was called for a balk thanks to MLB’s new disengagement rule that allows pitchers to only have two pickoff attempts or step-offs during a plate appearance.

Check this out: 

Chris Bassitt, Sprint Balk/3rd Disengagement. pic.twitter.com/Vr2P6ctzW7

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 11, 2023

Here's another angle on it:

1000 IQ play by @MitchGarver. #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/5HF5iRUhwO

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) September 11, 2023

MLB fans loved it: 

Such a smart, cool play. https://t.co/urmiMH80HS

— Dayton from Nebraska (@BravesAmerica) September 12, 2023

This is brilliant. https://t.co/fKbm7H5aQX

— Austin Hyde (@austinhyde1) September 12, 2023

Surprised it took 140 games for someone to figure this out. https://t.co/6hBQLSQGUU

— harponsports (@HarpOnSports) September 12, 2023

This man is brilliant!!! https://t.co/svj85yJRUc

— Rob DFDub (@dfw_mecca) September 11, 2023

This man’s playing chess while we’re playing checkers. Huge W https://t.co/igPxIXlL1L

— Maxwell (@MaxwellTJohnson) September 11, 2023

This is so great in the dumbest way https://t.co/QD9jb6pwxe

— Alec Medford (@AlecOnTheRadio) September 11, 2023

This is the funniest baseball play of the year https://t.co/X31wfQGRi4

— Tito (@Tito_badito) September 11, 2023