Dale Scott, the Major League Baseball umpire and crew chief who came out publicly as gay last year, was injured by a pitch in the first inning of a Spring Training game between the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants today. It was while the Giants’ very first batter was at the plate.

From CloseCallSports:

HP Umpire Dale Scott was injured on a pitch to the hand during the first inning of Thursday’s Cubs-Giants split-squad game and left the field as a precaution. With none out and none on, Giants batter Nori Aoki took a 0-0 pitch from Cubs pitcher Jacob Turner for a called ball. The pitch evaded catcher Welington Castillo and struck Scott’s hand.

Scott was hit in the first inning of the first game since he came out publicly. Last season in 113 innings pitched, Turner hit one batter with a pitch. Over the last two seasons, Castillo has started 210 games for the Cubs.

Umpires aren't hit by pitches very often, and when they do it rarely puts their arm in a sling.

Back in the day when I was writing spec movie scripts, I had the idea of a pitcher taking out a gay player in the first inning of his first game. To see this happen here was eerily similar, though of course there's no evidence as to whether it was intentional or not. San Francisco Giant Hunter Pence was also hit by a pitch in the same game, and that broke his arm. It is Spring Training, after all.

You can check out the video here:

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