A bizarre mishap happened yesterday during the third game between the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox.
The Houston Astros have been on a hot streak, with yesterday marking their fourth straight win and third victory over the Red Sox. The Astros took another W, 9-2.
But when Cam Smith came up to bat, something strange happened.
ABS hasn’t taken the human element out of Major League Baseball, which was clearly on display with a massive mistake Tuesday night at Daikin Park.
The new ABS rule has kept umpires on their toes, correcting a lot of errors and even changing game outcomes in some cases.
Still, even with the system in place, mistakes happen. Home-plate umpire and crew chief Mark Wegner completely lost track of the count during a fifth-inning plate appearance by Astros right fielder Cam Smith.
As a result, Smith managed to draw a walk despite swinging and missing at the first three pitches from Boston Red Sox starter Brayan Bello. He walked on just three balls after Wegner miscounted. According to reports, Smith didn’t realize the mistake until he returned to the dugout.
No one on the field said a word about the miscount, and most didn’t notice the mistake at all. Joe Espada reportedly did notice, but chose not to alert Wegner.
Wegner reportedly admitted the mistake and said he wasn’t happy about it after realizing it while reviewing video postgame.
A simple case of human error and a little confusion resulted in something that isn’t supposed to happen in baseball: a strikeout that somehow turned into a walk.