Home plate umpire Lance Barksdale had a somewhat embarrassing moment to start Game 6 of the World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros on Saturday night.
Kyle Schwarber led off the game for the Phillies against Valdez. He checked his swing on a 1-1 pitch, and on an appeal, third base umpire Dan Iassogna said Schwarber went.
The next pitch, Valdez threw Schwarber a pitch up and in that looked like a strike. Even Schwarber thought he had been struck out and took a few steps towards the dugout. But Barksdale called it a ball.
Kyle Schwarber began walking toward the dugout after this 1-2 pitch thinking it was strike three.
He would go on to walk. pic.twitter.com/t8PpthElvj
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 6, 2022
Was Barksdale giving Schwarber a makeup call for the check swing a pitch earlier? If not, then he missed that strike call.
Schwarber was able to work a walk but was quickly erased on a double play on the first pitch to Rhys Hoskins.
Still, that kind of a miss is not what you want to see by an umpire in the World Series, especially after Pat Hoberg set the bar so high.
