WASHINGTON – Home plate umpire Joe West left at the end of the first inning of Thursday’s game between the Washington Nationals and the Toronto Blue Jays after he was bloody when he was hit on the head by Bo Bichette’s flying bat, but he finally came back.
West, 67, who is the leading umpire in Major League Baseball, was hit near the left ear when Toronto hitter Bichette lost his grip while hitting, and missed, the first pitch thrown by Washington at the right. – Erick Fedde.
Nationals coach Paul Lessard came out to see West and gave him a white towel to press against his head. The athletic trainer then left the field with West, leading him to a ramp leading to the clubhouse and the umpire room in National Park.
The game, the last of four straight games between the teams, was delayed for six minutes. When action resumed, Vic Carapazza went from his original assignment at second base to behind the plate, and the game continued with three umpires until West returned midway through the third inning. West changed the referee to third.
Bichette, who had missed the previous three games with a tight left hamstring, doubled on Fedde’s next pitch and turned to score a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. single.
West debuted as a major league umpire in 1976, then became a full-time staff member two years later. He entered the 2020 season after working 5,312 regular-season games in the majors, second after Bill Klem’s 5,370.
Although the game was in Washington, the Blue Jays were the “home” team – hitting in the bottom half of each inning – because the Canadian government did not allow them to use their home stadium in Toronto during the coronavirus pandemic. Eventually, the Blue Jays will use a minor league baseball stadium in Buffalo to organize their games, but that facility is still in the works.
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