HOUSTON — Tuesday night’s 9-2 Astros win over the Red Sox at Daikin Park included an unusual officiating mistake, as plate umpire Mark Wegner lost track of the strike count during a fifth-inning at-bat involving Cam Smith.
Smith swung and missed at two cutters from Boston starter Brayan Bello, then whiffed on a sweeper that should have been strike three. Instead, Wegner signaled a 1-2 count. Six pitches later, Smith worked a walk, ending Bello’s outing after 4⅔ innings rather than a potential five.
Wegner, a crew chief in his 29th major league season, acknowledged the error after the game.
“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 one and two. It was actually strike three,” Wegner said. “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.”
Bello said Wegner had the count at 1-1 after the second pitch and did not question it at the time, and no one on the field challenged the count during the at-bat.
The mistake did not impact the outcome, with Houston in control throughout, but it did affect Bello’s final line. He was charged with six runs, five earned, on eight hits and three walks in his season debut.
It’s an uncommon error at the major league level, and one Wegner said he had not experienced before.
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