MLB umpire C.B. Bucknor hit with more trouble, leaving game with injury

Umpire C.B. Bucknor’s problems on the baseball field compounded Wednesday when a foul tip forced him to leave a game in Milwaukee between the Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays’ Nick Fortes, at bat against Brewers fireballer Jacob Misiorowski, hit the ball that jarred Bucknor’s face mask so harshly that the ump fell on his hands and knees and left the game.

“That sucks. It’s never fun to watch a guy take one like that,” Misiorowski said, per the MLB website.

Bucknor, 63, eventually got to his feet and went to the umpire’s room at American Family Field.

The incident added injury to insult for Bucknor. On Tuesday, Bucknor was working as the first base umpire when he called the Brewers’ Jake Bauers out on the grounds that his foot never touched first base.

The call was overturned following a challenge by the Brewers, with video showing Bauers landing on the base and beating a throw from Rays second baseman Ben Williamson.

Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy and Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash were then seen laughing over Bucknor’s call.

The ump had already garnered scrutiny for his work during a Boston Red Sox-Cincinnati Reds game on Saturday.

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He had back-to-back third strike calls overruled by MLB’s new automated ball-strike system on challenges by the Reds’ Eugenio Suarez and had six calls overturned overall during the game, according to The Athletic.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.