MLB umpire takes bat to the face

With the Los Angeles Dodgers now neck-and-neck with the San Diego Padres in the NL West, they can’t afford to take any losses. The Los Angeles Angels are in an even more precarious position, having slipped to third place in the AL West, at 9.5 games adrift, a full game behind the resurgent Texas Rangers.

Game one of the Dodgers’ two-game home stand against their Orange County rivals was a defensive matchup, with both starting pitchers keeping a clean sheet until the fourth. A momentary lapse by Noah Syndergaard scored one run for the Dodgers in the bottom of that inning. Added to that, a solo home run by Mookie Betts in the bottom of the eighth closed out the scoring and the Dodgers took the 2-0 win.

The real story of the game, however, took place in the top of the ninth. With nobody on and one out, Mike Trout shattered his bat on a four-seamer from Craig Kembrel. The splintered end struck home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson in the face, passing between the protective covering and striking his nose.

The ball fell in between the charging Cody Bellinger and the drifting Trea Turner for a single, but Tomlinson was on the ground and attended to by Dodgers trainer Nate Lucero, with blood clearly flowing from the umpire’s nose. Much attention was paid to Tomlinson’s eye, with the bat catching more than just his nose, and thankfully he was able to leave the game under his own steam.

LA Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “In the mask, the broken part of the bat, that was really scary. I heard that it hit his nose, Nate. And so that’s, I guess, the best-case scenario. A very scary moment.”

With play halted momentarily, and Tomlinson lucky to have escaped more serious injury, he was replaced behind the plate by second base umpire Lazaro Diaz.

The Angels managed to load the bases before Kembrel recovered his composure and fanned the last two batters to slam the door on the wayward halos.

Game two of their series will be played on Wednesday, June 14th at 7:10 p.m. PT, 4:10 p.m. ET.