ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — There were only two umpires on the field in the top of the first inning when the San Diego Padres and Texas Rangers began their game Friday night.
Because of travel issues, Emil Jimenez and John Bacon were the lone umps ready to go by first pitch. Gabe Morales and Mike Muchlinski arrived and joined them on the field in the middle of the first, about the same time Rangers bench coach Luis Urueta was being ejected from the game.
With Jimenez behind home plate calling balls and strikes, Bacon was in the field alone in the top of the first, and he ejected Ureta for arguing a check-swing after San Diego had scored five runs off Jacob deGrom. The Rangers scored six in the bottom of the first and went on to a wild 9-7 win.
DeGrom and the Rangers thought they had gotten out of the top of the first down only 1-0. Rangers catcher Elias Díaz pointed toward first base to appeal when Xander Bogaerts checked his swing on a 2-2 count, but Bacon was behind the mound at the time and signaled no swing. So instead of strike three, it was a full count and Bogaerts walked on the next pitch to load the bases ahead of Ty France's grand slam.
“Um, that was close,” deGrom said.
“I will say that the two umpires at the beginning of the game wasn’t ideal,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “I’m not sure what happened there and I’ve got to find out because that’s not easy for them. ... That was a big moment in the game, so I do wonder what happened there.”
Jimenez, Morales and Muchlinski had worked with Doug Eddings at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night, when the Chicago White Sox beat New York.
With only half the normal umpire crew available at the start of the game, both teams were given an additional replay challenge for the series opener. Managers usually begin each game with one challenge, and retain that if a challenged call is overturned. But none of the challenges were used.
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