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Ump Foils Dioner Navarro's Attempt to Trick Chris Sale

Dioner Navarro almost hit Chris Sale with a baseball and tried to blame it on the Toronto fans. Then the home plate ump sold him out.

During the 8th inning last night in Toronto, while pitching to a 7-1 lead over the Blue Jays, Chris Sale had a little scare courtesy of Dioner Navarro. For some reason, with Sale holding on to a ball on the mound, Navarro threw a second ball to him while he wasn't looking. The ball arced over Sale's head and landed just behind him, scaring the daylights out of him.

Navarro immediately motioned to the crowd behind him, as if to imply a fan threw it on the field. He tried to change the subject quickly by motioning that they were going to go back through their signs, and it almost worked, but then home plate umpire Alan Porter blew the lid off the whole operation. Standing behind Navarro, he pointed to the catcher and Sale got wise to the ruse. Navarro turned around and then the most remarkable thing happened: a baseball umpire experienced genuine joy and laughed a hearty laugh.

h/t SI

[MLB]