Dioner Navarro nearly hits Chris Sale with throw, blames fans

It’s imperative that pitchers and catchers are always on the same page. They should go into each start with the same game plan, and always anticipate what the other is thinking. There are no two positions on a baseball field that share such an intimate relationship.

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Sometimes, though, things don’t always work out that way. Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale and catcher Dioner Navarro discovered that during Tuesday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Navarro and Sale experienced a bit of a miscommunication, which nearly resulted in Sale getting hit in the head by Navarro’s toss back to the mound.

The video is somewhat confusing, so we’ll attempt to explain what happened. Sale started off the eighth inning by getting Darwin Barney to pop out to third baseman Todd Frazier. The White Sox toss that ball around the infield and it eventually makes it way back to Sale.

For whatever reason, Navarro doesn’t seem to realize Sale has the ball. He requests a new one from the umpire and tosses it to Sale on the mound just as the pitcher looks away. The new ball lands just behind Sale, and you can see him jump a look surprised when he hears the ball fall behind him on the mound.

At this point, Navarro has a choice: He can either own up to his mistake or attempt to blame one of the fans. For a brief second, he chooses the latter, trying to convince Sale it came from the upper deck.

He can’t hold his lie for long, though. And even if he tried, home plate umpire Alan Porter was selling him out. Navarro turns and says something to Porter, and the two laugh about the exchange. All the while, Josh Thole seems incredibly confused by the whole ordeal.

Both TV broadcasts initially missed what was going on at the time. The Toronto broadcasters mentioned something weird was happening, and that two balls were on the field, but didn’t seem to realize Navarro was responsible. The White Sox broadcast captured the event, but didn’t acknowledge what happened until after Thole struck out.

After watching a replay of the errant throw, White Sox color analyst Steve Stone exclaimed, “that is the toughest thing that’s happened to Chris Sale tonight.”

We can’t really argue with that. Sale was fantastic against the fearsome Blue Jays. The lanky 27-year-old gave up just one run on four hits over eight innings, striking out six. He improved to 5-0 as the White Sox continued their surprising start to the season.

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Even when Navarro and Sale weren’t on the same page, a crisis was averted. Between this and the team’s hot start, everything appears to be coming up White Sox right now.

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