HOUSTON — A veteran Major League Baseball umpire owned up to a significant mistake that changed the course of an at-bat during Tuesday evening’s matchup between the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, which ended in a 9-2 Astros victory.
Mark Wegner, the home plate umpire, admitted after the game that he failed to properly track the pitch count during Houston batter Cam Smith’s plate appearance in the fifth inning, resulting in Smith receiving a walk when he actually should have been called out on strikes.
The sequence began with Smith missing two consecutive cutter pitches from Boston starter Brayan Bello. During this time, Joey Loperfido successfully stole second base while Christian Walker crossed home plate due to a throwing mistake by Red Sox catcher Connor Wong. Following approximately 40 seconds of action, Smith whiffed on a sweeper for what should have been the third strike.
However, Wegner, who serves as a crew chief and is working his 29th season in the major leagues, incorrectly signaled the count as 1-2 instead of recognizing the strikeout. Smith then continued batting for six additional pitches before earning a base on balls.
“I just watched the video. 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 1-2. It was actually strike three,” Wegner explained to reporters following the contest. “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.”
According to Wegner, nobody on the field questioned the count during the moment it occurred.
Bello mentioned that Wegner had announced the count as 1-1 following his second delivery, and the pitcher chose not to challenge that call at the time.
“I thought the first pitch was a strike and I thought that he swung at the second pitch,” Bello explained through a translator, speaking in Spanish. “None of that took me out of my focus in that inning. I tried to get out of that inning, and it didn’t happen.”
Smith’s at-bat marked the final batter that Bello would face in what was his first appearance of the season. The Red Sox pitcher surrendered six runs, with five being earned, along with eight hits and three walks across 4 2/3 innings of work.
