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Padres’ attempt at hidden ball trick backfired spectacularly

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Grey Papke | Last updated Aug 10, 2025 6:42 PM ET

The San Diego Padres tried to pull the hidden ball trick on the Boston Red Sox during Saturday’s game at Petco Park in San Diego, Ca. Unfortunately for them, they screwed it up by not knowing the rules.

The Padres tried to catch the Red Sox flat-footed while Boston had runners at second and third and just one out in the top of the third inning. Padres third baseman Manny Machado had hoped to catch Jarren Duran off third base for an easy out and kept the ball while Masataka Yoshida was at the plate with a 1-1 count.

Veteran pitcher Wandy Peralta, however, seemingly did not know the rules well enough to execute the play. Pitchers are not allowed to stand on the pitching rubber without the baseball, but Peralta did just that, resulting in a balk and a run scored.

The Padres went for the hidden ball trick and balked pic.twitter.com/2rrIpdWHOO
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) August 10, 2025

When the hidden ball trick works, it is usually at a lower level of baseball, and often comes down to a baserunner simply not paying attention. We have also seen variants that involve faking out opponents. Generally, however, MLB players just aren’t going to fall for tricks like that.

The Padres would have been better off playing things by the book in this instance. In addition to allowing Duran to score, the balk advanced Trevor Story to third, allowing him to score on an ensuing ground ball.

San Diego did ultimately stage a comeback and won 5-4 in 10 innings. They got away with this one, and we probably won’t see them trying to pull another trick like this anytime soon.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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