If only umpires could be called for errors.
Joey Votto took a three-ball walk Sunday during the bottom of the seventh inning between the Washington Nationals and his Cincinnati Reds. That's right, a three-ball walk. Not only was the home-plate ump clearly caught sleeping here, but so were the announcers, none of which mentioned that Votto got a base on balls ... well, with one less ball. Watch the clip here.
And just for kicks, a look at the official pitch-by-pitch on the stat sheet.
Unfortunately for Washington, the unnoticed — undeserved walk — was part of a six-run seventh inning that Cincinnati used to power past the Nationals. According to ESPN, a statistician noticed the ump's mistake and informed a Reds spokesperson. People definitely took notice on social media as well.
That time Joey Votto drew a walk on only 3 balls. Yeah ... he's that good.
— Baseball Tonight (@BBTN) June 1, 2015
joey votto is good at walks but man, this is ridiculous. #3balls https://t.co/FygcwbYiYM
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) June 1, 2015
Pretty unbelievable. We're sure Votto can laugh off the play, but how embarrassing for the umpire who missed it. And if you're Nationals pitcher Matt Grace, you've got to be enraged. After all, if the walk was a walk in a scoreless inning, it's not a big deal. If it's part of a six-run, game-deciding inning, it's huge.
Chances are, we won't see this for a long, long time. Nor should we. However, mistakes happen and errors are part of the game ... even by umpires.
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