The circumstance was a brutal time for a missed call.
The Texas Rangers were down a run to the Minnesota Twins. Evan Carter was on first base in the fourth inning.
A key detail: Carter had never been caught on a stolen base in his MLB career in eight attempts.
That changed because Twins pitcher David Festa threw a pick-off toss that got Carter off balance and eventually led to him being tagged out.
The issue: Festa balked, clear as day.
Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry after the game that he was sure it was a balk.
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The balk rule can be confusing, so we’ll explain and then let you watch. For Festa to throw over to first base, his back (right) foot has to disengage with the rubber before any other part of his body moves in the set position.
Here, Festa’s left foot moves first. That makes Carter think Festa is throwing home, but instead, it ends up deceiving Carter into being caught.
This was Evan Carter’s first caught stealing of his big league career. Both he and Bruce Bochy were pretty adamant that it was a balk
It came at a pretty pivotal point in the game. Obviously not the reason for the loss, but definitely took the air out of some momentum building pic.twitter.com/tbmSdnUgVv
— kennedi landry (@kennlandry) June 12, 2025
It’s close, and you can see how it might be tough for an umpire to call in real time. But theses are guys on top of calls in every aspect of the game. They can’t miss this one.
If they call it, Carter goes to second with one out.
Instead, the Rangers didn’t score again the rest of the night in their loss.
It didn’t decide the game, but it did matter, and it winds up going down as a miss for the umpires at a time when it really cost Texas.
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