Braxton Ashcraft knew exactly what he was doing on the mound. What he did not realize was that it would be treated as a violation. Just when he thought he had completed six scoreless innings against the San Diego Padres on Monday, the entire inning was flipped on a technicality.

Ashcraft was already walking off after what looked like a routine inning-ending groundout when the umpire suddenly called a balk, erased the out, handed San Diego a run and left Pirates fans furious over a rule even Ashcraft later called “stupid.”

Instead of heading to the dugout, Ashcraft was forced to throw 15 more pitches, while the Padres were handed a run on a technicality.

The Pirates looked firmly in control with a 2-0 lead entering the bottom of the sixth. Ashcraft gave up a double to Freddy Fermin, then needed just seven pitches to get the next two outs.

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By the time Jake Cronenworth stepped in, Fermin had moved to third. On an 0-2 count, Cronenworth rolled a 98-mph fastball to shortstop Jacob Gonzalez, who made the routine throw to first for what everyone thought was the final out.

Ashcraft and catcher Rafael Flores Jr. were already heading off the field. Then came the twist nobody saw coming and left Ashcraft looking completely blindsided.

He was already walking off the mound, his defense was leaving the field, and everyone thought the sixth inning was over. Even the broadcasters had no idea what was happening, blurting out, “Wait, wait, what happened?” and then, “How could that be?” Once the balk was announced, the reaction was even more blunt: “Where?” and “But why?” Don Kelly quickly came onto the field demanding an explanation, trying to figure out how an apparent inning-ending groundout had somehow turned into a Padres run. As the broadcast put it, “That was the end of the inning, and instead it’s a balk, and that scores the run.”

“Yeah, I think it’s the dumbest rule in baseball. You know, but it is a rule, But at the same time, it’s a stupid rule, in my opinion.” Ashcraft said. “You really change the game for a little bitty moment in the game that has really no bearing on what happens, but it’s just on us as pitchers across the league to know the rules a little bit better.”

Well, according to Official Baseball Rule 5.07(a)(2), a pitcher with runners on base must notify the umpire if he intends to pitch from the windup rather than the set position. During an at-bat, he can make that declaration only after an offensive substitution or immediately after one or more runners advance.

“In that situation, I decided to go from the windup and declared it to the second base umpire, but I just didn’t really think about the rule. It’s one of those obscure things that’s easy to slip up on, especially in a big moment, and there have been times this year when I’ve gone from the windup for multiple batters, didn’t declare it for the second batter and, I guess, got away with it.” Ashcraft said.

After making his case, Kelly eventually backed off, likely knowing another heated argument could have brought him his seventh ejection of the season.

But it didn’t end there. 

On the very next pitch, Cronenworth was called out on strikes, only for San Diego to challenge it through the ABS system and get the call overturned to a ball. So after one technical ruling had already erased the apparent final out, another review kept the at-bat alive.

Ashcraft finally ended the inning with yet another groundout, but by then the sixth had turned into a full-blown officiating circus.

But Cronenworth recorded an RBI single in the 8th. Tying the game and taking it into extra innings. It wasn’t until the 12th inning that Nick Gonzales managed a single and Jared Triolo made it home, putting the Pirates ahead again. And they finally won 3-2, stopping their 3-game slide. 

Ashcraft was not even the first pitcher this month to get burned by this bizarre technicality. On August 8, Braves ace Chris Sale was nailed for almost the exact same run-scoring balk against the Yankees after Dan Merzel ruled he had not properly declared his windup with a runner on third. Spencer Jones was handed home plate, Atlanta lost the lead, and Walt Weiss was ejected arguing a rule he said he had never even heard of. Dan Bellino later defended the call by explaining that hybrid pitchers have to declare their position.

The wild part is that the same umpiring crew was involved in Ashcraft’s mess just over two weeks later, making the whole thing look less like a one-off and more like a rule suddenly being enforced with brutal consequences.

While the final score went in their favor, the controversial call stole much of the spotlight. And fans were quick to react to the strangeness of the call.

Pirates Fans Aren’t Buying This One

One fan did not even bother debating the rule, simply calling it an “absurd call.” Plenty of others agreed, but some focused on what made the whole thing look even worse: the timing of the balk call.

One fan wrote, “It’s a bad look because the ump waited until the out was made before saying anything about it.”

They argue the point of waiting till the fielders made the final out and started walking toward their dugout when it was supposed to be a dead ball. And the fact that it reduced the gap between the teams made many Pirates diehards furious. 

But some fans chose sarcasm instead of calling the officials biased.

“Well, you see, it’s because he didn’t buy the umpire dinner,” read one comment. “No idea, still in shock,” read another.

But some of them pointed out the specific rule behind the umpire’s decision. One of them commented, “He’s got to declare whether he’s going from the stretch or windup with a runner on third.”

The balk rule remains one of baseball’s messiest technical traps, and Ashcraft showed how quickly even a major-league pitcher can get burned by it.

Still, Pittsburgh can live with the controversy because it escaped with the win. After getting swept by the Dodgers, the Pirates badly needed something to stop the slide, especially with their Wild Card hopes already hanging by a thread at 7.5 games back.