In a shocking turn of events, home plate umpire Nate Tomlinson was struck on the face by Mike Trout's broken bat and was forced to leave in the ninth innings during the Freeway Series opener between the Dodgers and Angels. Trout shattered his bat on a four-seam fastball from Dodgers closer Craig Kimbrel, but a broken piece of the bat flew between the opening on Tomlinson's facemask and hit him close to his nose. Tomlinson fell and grabbed his face as his facemask also fell off.

Nate Tomlinson

After the incident, Dodgers trainer Nate Lucero came out to examine Tomlinson's nose and right eye as he wiped the blood. Tomlinson walked off the field, causing a brief delay in the game. Trout also checked on Tomlinson and catcher Will Smith before he ran for first base.

Responding to the incident, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that the incident was really scary as it was close to his eyes and nose. "I heard that it hit his nose, Nate. And so that's, I guess, the best-case scenario. A very scary moment" said Dave.

Tomlinson was reportedly taken to an emergency room, but Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that the plate umpire avoided any sort of major injury. Second base umpire Laz Diaz took over behind the home plate for the rest of the ninth inning.

Nate Tomlinson

Notably, the 31-year-old Tomlinson made his MLB debut in 2020 and he came into this season with 20 career big-league games to his credit.

Earlier, outfielder Tyler Colvin had got hit in the chest by a shattered bat, which punctured his chest and sent him to the emergency room, where doctors had to prevent his lung from collapsing.