Detroit — Gio Urshela of the New York Yankees was the beneficiary of a mix-up over the count Friday night, drawing a walk after only three balls.
Urshela came to the plate in the sixth inning against Detroit. After he fouled off several 2-2 pitches, the next offering from Kyle Funkhouser was way outside and went to the backstop. Urshela tossed his bat aside and headed to first. Nobody from the Tigers appeared to argue.
The Yankees did not end up scoring in the inning. Vic Carapazza was the plate umpire.
“It was a missed count,” crew chief Jerry Meals said after the game. “He went to first on three balls.”
Meals, who was umpiring second base, said the play could have been reviewed if umpires had any idea there was a problem, but nobody brought it up at the time.
“Didn’t know anything about it until after the game,” Meals said.
Issues like this do come up from time to time. During last year’s playoffs, Miami’s Pablo López threw four balls to Atlanta’s Adam Duvall, but Duvall wasn’t awarded first.