Intentional balk buys D-backs time to solve Vieira's pitch tipping

PHOENIX -- D-backs manager Torey Lovullo called time and headed to the mound to talk to Thyago Vieira. It was an interesting time for the skipper to talk to his pitcher. It was a 2-1 count on Andrew Vaughn with a runner on second and two outs in the third inning.

As the television broadcast focused on the mound meeting, you could read Lovullo's lips saying something about "dropping the ball" and "Are you comfortable with that?"

Lovullo returned to the dugout and Vieira came set and dropped the ball. That resulted in a balk, moving Martin Maldonado to third base, where he later scored.

The run proved inconsequential as the D-backs went on to lose, 9-2, to the White Sox on Saturday night at Chase Field, but the whole scenario was an important learning experience for Vieira, who was claimed off waivers a little more than a week ago.

The D-backs wanted to balk Maldonado from second to third because they discovered the savvy veteran could discern what pitches Vieira was going to throw and relay them to the batter at the plate.

"Maldonado is very crafty," Lovullo said. "And he was given signs. He was [perfect]. He didn't miss one. And so I just went out there and said, let's force a balk."

The D-backs knew that Vieira was doing something to tip his pitches, but from the dugout, they couldn't tell what it was. They couldn't look at video of the inning until it was over because the iPads provided in the teams' dugouts do not show a live feed.

Once the inning ended and they could look at the video, they immediately saw what it was.

"He was taking the ball from the side and [if] you could see him rolling it before he put it in his hand, it was breaking ball," Lovullo said. "If he didn't roll it and packed it into his glove it was gonna be a fastball. Easy as that, but we just couldn't see it."

Lovullo went out of his way to emphasize that what Maldonado was doing was entirely within the game's rules and the D-backs had no issues with him doing it.

"It is not cheating whatsoever," Lovullo said. "It is part of the game, 100 percent. Maldonado was doing his job. I want to make sure I state that loud and clear."

The D-backs are familiar with Maldonado because Arizona pitching coach Brent Strom was the pitching coach in Houston when Maldonado played for the Astros.

"I've been in this game for a long time," Maldonado said. "Their pitching coach knows me really good. It is what it is."

White Sox manager Pedro Grifol tipped his hat to Lovullo for the strategy of an intentional balk.

"I've seen it done before," Grifol said. "[Lovullo] was comfortable doing that and trusting his pitcher. I like the fact that he did it and he had the strength to do it. For lack of a better word."