Home-plate umpire Will Little, hit with foul ball, exits Red Sox-Mariners game

BOSTON — Home plate umpire Will Little exited Tuesday’s game between the Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners after getting hit in the neck guard with a foul ball, later leaving the game with a Red Sox trainer in the sixth inning.

With the Mariners up 9-1 and Cole Young at the plate, Young fouled off a pitch from Wyatt Olds that hit Little squarely in the neck guard, dislodging the guard from his face mask. Catcher Connor Wong got up and grabbed Little immediately as Little wobbled a bit and removed his mask. The other umpires ran in, and a Red Sox trainer came out to assess Little for several minutes. Little remained on the field with the trainer and umpires as he tried to reattach his neck guard, eventually returning behind home plate after a roughly 10-minute delay. Young flied out to center to end the inning.

However, in the middle of the sixth, Little exited the game with a Red Sox trainer.

The bottom of the sixth was delayed by roughly 15 minutes as second-base umpire Ryan Wills suited up to move behind home plate for the rest of the game. The game resumed with three umpires: Wills at home, Derek Thomas on the first-base line, and Lance Barksdale on the third-base line.