In chaotic Red Sox inning, umpire admits to forgetting count, preventing Brayan Bello strikeout
· Yahoo Sports
HOUSTON — Home plate umpire Mark Wegner acknowledged that he lost track of the count during a fifth-inning at-bat in the Red Sox’ 9-2 loss to the Astros on Tuesday.
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Sox starter Brayan Bello got Astros right fielder Cam Smith to swing and miss at three straight pitches. But Wegner thought the third whiff made the count 1-2, preventing a strikeout and extending the inning.
Bello eventually walked Smith on nine pitches and then manager Alex Cora removed the 26-year-old righty at 92 pitches with Boston down 5-1.
“I just watched the video,” Wegner told a pool reporter. “I didn’t know what happened until I came in here and apparently I somehow didn’t count the second swinging one because I said the count was 1 and 2. It was actually strike three. Had anybody caught it, we can always go and call replay and check the count. I’ve never done that before. I’m not happy about it. Just made a mistake.”
Nobody with the Red Sox questioned the count after the third swinging strike.
“No one on the field said a word,” Wegner said.
Smith was at the plate with runners at the corners and two outs.
On the second swinging strike, Astros baserunner Joey Loperfido stole second base. Catcher Connor Wong’s throw bounced and second baseman Marcelo Mayer couldn’t handle it cleanly. Mayer retrieved the ball and threw home as Christian Walker, the runner at third base, broke for the plate.
Bello tried to cut off Mayer’s throw. The ball deflected off the pitcher’s glove into foul territory, allowing Walker to score easily.
Wegner acknowledged that chaos after the second swinging strike must have caused him to lose track of the count.
“It must have because that’s the strike that I didn’t count on my indicator,” Wegner said. “Because the next one he swung at, I gave a count that said 1 and 2 and it was the third strike.”
Bello said he asked Wegner the count after Walker scored.
“I asked him because I thought the first pitch was a strike and I thought he swung at the second pitch,” Bello said through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez. “But yeah, none of that took me out of my focus on that inning. I tried to get out of that inning. But it didn’t happen.”
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Cora was unaware that Wegner had lost track of the count when he was asked about it after the game.
“I don’t even know what to say about that,” Cora said.
Smith told reporters that he had no idea he struck out, but the Astros dugout was aware.
“I lost track because that throw down to second base,” he said. “I looked at the board and it said 1-1 and I was like ‘All right, next pitch.’ I had no idea until I came back in the dugout.”
Bello also explained the reason for trying to cut off Mayer’s throw home.
“The ball was coming straight to me,” Bello said. “I tried to get him not to throw the ball because the runner was already getting close to home plate. So when he threw the ball, I tried to catch it and the ball just went away from me.”
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