LOS ANGELES – Mark Wegner was slow to the draw. And the homeplate umpire cost the Toronto Blue Jays at least one run with his deliberate actions in the second inning of World Series Game 3.
With Bo Bichette on first base and a 3-1 count on Daulton Varsho, Los Angeles Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow threw a pitch above strike zone. Pitch tracking indicated it was ball four.
And Wegner, the homeplate umpire, indicated it was ball four – by doing nothing.
Varsho paused, heard no strike call and took two tentative steps toward first. Bichette wandered toward second base to advance.
And then Wegner casually initiated his called-strike mechanism. The count was full – but Bichette was about 30 feet off the bag by then.
And Glasnow tossed the ball to first baseman Freddie Freeman, who tagged Bichette for a huge first out of the inning.
How huge? Well, Varsho did eventually walk. Alejandro Kirk followed with a single to right field that Bichette certainly would’ve scored on.
It theoretically could’ve been 1-0 Toronto, with runners on first and second and nobody out.
Instead, Bichette was erased, Addison Barger struck out and Ernie Clement lined out to center.
Inning over. No runs for the Blue Jays. And manager John Schneider helpless, save to continue the conversation with Wegner, also the crew chief, between innings.