Jeff McNeil led off with a base hit, then things got weird. Dick Blier, on the mound for the Marlins, committed not one, not two, but three balks during Pete Alonso’s at-bat. Each one moved McNeil up a base, eventually bringing him home without a ball being hit again. The first balk came with Blier not coming set, something the ump flagged immediately. Blier argued, claiming he’d paused as required. The second balk quickly followed, with frustrations boiling over. By the third, both Blier and Marlins manager Don Mattingly had lost it. Mattingly got ejected while voicing his disbelief, noting Blier had never been called for a balk in his seven-year career and the move in question had gone unnoticed all season.
Blier looked rattled. Alonso stayed in the box that whole sequence while three pitches didn’t count due to the balks. Eventually, after all the chaos, Alonso grounded out. But the damage was done. One run scored on a single with no errors, no steals, just three balks. The video ends examining side-by-side clips of Blier’s motion to see what the umpires were calling, but there’s no clear answer. The umpiring left everyone confused, including Blier, who walked off muttering about it being the worst call he’s ever seen. Mattingly, not returning next year and with the Marlins already out of postseason contention, still showed up for his guy.