MLB Umpire Andy Fletcher suffered a broken wrist and Joe West lost track of the count during a 2-1 walk-off victory during the Giants-Mariners Father's Day contest.
Fletcher Injured (
Video): With none out and none on in the top of the 8th inning, Mariners pitcher Brandon League bounced a pitch in the dirt, the carom bounding up and directly into HP Umpire Andy Fletcher's right forearm. Fletcher, clearly in immediate pain, was attended to by the Seattle training staff before exiting the contest and retreating to the home clubhouse. Once in the training room, x-ray results came back positive, indicating a fractured scaphoid. With the broken wrist, Fletcher will be out of the game indefinitely as he recuperates from this injury.
West Loses Track of Count (
Video): As medical personnel attended to Fletcher, crew chief Joe West left the field to don the plate gear—paying attention to detail so far as to affix the MLB Father's Day/Prostate Cancer Awareness ribbon sticker to his plate coat lapel. With one out and one on in the top of the 9th inning, with Giants batter Gregor Blanco at the plate, West and remaining umpires Rob Drake and Sam Holbrook lost track of a 3-1 count, as West visited the Mariners dugout to call the press box to verify that he had indeed seen ball four on a pitch low and away. Instead, the official scorer informed West that he had only seen ball three and the at-bat continued. Blanco walked on the very next pitch.
West is not the first MLB umpire to have lost track of the count and called the press box to consult the official record: On
September 27, 2011, HP Umpire and crew chief Gary Cederstrom lost track of a 3-1 count, mistakingly believing it was 2-2, resulting in a false strikeout declaration when batter Adam Dunn swung on and missed the next pitch. After confering with the official scorer, Cederstom discovered the count had run full and resumed the at-bat with a 3-2 count.
Wrap:
Giants at Mariners, 6/17/12
