There are lots of ways to lose a baseball game, but the Texas Rangers picked a pretty brutal one Thursday night.
The Rangers were locked in a scoreless tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers entering the ninth inning but allowed the game-winning run to reach third base with two outs.
That gave Dodgers batter Jimmy Rollins the chance to earn a clutch game-winning hit. Turns out he didn’t need to.
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Rangers reliever Keone Kela flinched ever so slightly on the mound and was called for a balk, allowing baserunner Kike Hernandez to score from third for the walk-off 1-0 win.
It was a rookie mistake for the 22-year-old Kela, but also a savvy move by Hernandez, who faked breaking down the line in a successful attempt to make Kela flinch.
“I just tried to do something to distract the pitcher,” Hernandez told reporters after the game, via NBCDFW.com. “I faked him, and he fell for it.”
Kela certainly did, helping the Dodgers snap a three-game losing streak by committing the first walk-off balk since Detroit Tigers pitcher Al Alburquerque’s gaffe against the Cleveland Indians in May 2014.
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
