Bizarre three-ball walk costs Mariners

July 3, 2011 - 10:13 AM

You can be pretty certain they'll be counting balls and strikes a lot closer now in the Mariners' dugout from now on after what happened late Saturday night. The Mariners lost to the Padres, 1-0, as San Diego's Cameron Maybin scored the game's only run in the fifth inning -- after reaching base on a three-ball walk

Yes, a three-ball walk.

Scoreboard operators at Safeco Field moved the count from 1-2 to 3-2 after an outside pitch in the dirt and no one in the park noticed. No umpires, not catcher Josh Bard (the ex-Bison) or Maybin. Mariners manager and old friend Eric Wedge did think something was amiss but he thought he had missed a pitch since no one else in the park reacted. Turns out Wedge knew what the deal was.

Go here for the MLB.com link to the video of the "walk." It includes the actual at-bat and the review of it from the ROOT Sports Northwest telecast a couple of innings later.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

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Mike Harrington

Mike Harrington, a Canisius College graduate who began his career as a News reporter in 1987, has covered the Buffalo Bisons since 1992 and Major League Baseball since 1995. A member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, Harrington has reported on 15 World Series -- including every pitch of the Fall Classic this century -- and all three of the Bisons' championship runs in their modern era. He is a connoisseur of the famous Stadium Mustard at Cleveland's Progressive Field.

@BNHarrington | mharrington@buffnews.com

Amy Moritz

Amy Moritz, a native of Lockport, has covered the Bisons for The Buffalo News since 2002. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism/mass communication from St. Bonaventure University and a master’s degree in humanities from the University at Buffalo. An endurance athlete, she has completed several triathlons, half marathons and marathons.

@TBN_Moritz | amoritz@buffnews.com

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