With the new Automatic Ball-Strike System in place in the MLB this season, there's a massive spotlight placed on the umpires. Already heavily scrutinized before this year, fans are taking a much closer look at the umpiring of games. During the game between the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox, the umpiring became an issue… but for a different reason.

During the fifth inning, Astros third baseman Cam Smith came up to bat against Brayan Bello. Smith swung at the first two pitches, with the last swing seemingly a hit-and-run attempt as the runner on first tried to steal second base. However, catcher Connor Wong's throw was off, triggering Christian Walker to head home on the steal. Joey Loperfido, who already stole second, also advanced to third after the throw to home was bobbled.

After that chaos, the count should now be 0-2, right? After Smith swung at the next Bello pitch, every fan watching expected the Astros pitcher to walk off. Instead, he stayed. What makes it more confusing for MLB fans watching at home, though, is that no one seemed to challenge it. The umpire, Mark Wegner, was oblivious to the gaffe. Bizarrely, so was the Red Sox battery: both Bello and Wong did not challenge the play.

The ending of the at-bat was a nine-pitch walk that signaled the end of Bello's first MLB game in 2026. After the game, Wegner admitted in the pool report that he lost track of the count, and had one of the parties challenged the call, they would have reviewed the play.

“I didn't know what happened until I came in here and apparently I somehow didn't count the second swinging one because I said the count was 1 and 2,” Wegner said on the pool report, per Chandler Rome. “It was actually strike three. Had anybody caught it, we can always go and call replay and check the count. I've never done that before. I'm not happy about it. Just made a mistake.”

The Astros ended up winning the game 9-2 over the Red Sox.