Watch: Umpire forced to leave after taking warmup pitch to face
Joe Kelly absolutely drills home plate umpire Hunter Wendelsted with a WARM UP pitch pic.twitter.com/AgWb9iTkS1
— Boston Sports Info (@bostonsportsinf) August 22, 2017
Hunter Wendelstedt never saw it coming.
In a very bizarre scene during the bottom of the sixth inning of Monday's Cleveland Indians-Boston Red Sox contest at Progressive Field, home-plate umpire Wendelstedt was drilled in the face by Red Sox reliever Joe Kelly's errant warmup pitch. The 19-year veteran arbiter immediately fell to the ground in obvious discomfort, and had to be steadied by catcher Christian Vazquez before trainers came to attend to him.
Although he finished the inning behind the plate after being looked over, Wendelstedt would leave the game before the top of the seventh inning began. He was replaced behind the plate by second-base umpire Alan Porter.