Sox catcher Connor Wong skipped his throw to second, with the ball caroming off second baseman Marcelo Mayer. Christian Walker took off from third for home, and Bello made a diving cutoff attempt of Mayer’s throw to the plate. When the ball clanged off Bello’s glove, Loperfido advanced to third. Both Wong and Mayer were charged with errors on the play.

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Once the proverbial dust settled, Bello got back on the mound and was surprised when home plate umpire Mark Wegner signaled a 1 and 1 count. Bello sought clarification.

The ump and everyone else forgot the count here as this should’ve been a three-pitch strikeout, all swinging

Astros’ Cam Smith ended up walking, and Red Sox pitcher Brayan Bello was pulled from the game. Reliever Ryan Watson did retire the next batter pic.twitter.com/zF1QcPVQqz

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 1, 2026

“I asked him [for the count],” Bello said via translator. “I asked him because I thought the first pitch was a strike and then I thought that he swung at the second pitch.

“He just gave me the count. He was clear that it was 1-1.”

But it shouldn’t have been. The count should have been 0 and 2 at that point — in which case the next pitch, a sweeper at which Smith waved and whiffed, would have been the inning-ending third strike.

Instead, Wegner indicated that the count was 1 and 2, and the at-bat continued. Smith saw six more pitches, fouling off three, before working a full-count walk that ended Bello’s night after 4⅔ innings.

Smith was later informed by teammates in the dugout that he’d been given a gift.

“Honestly, I had no idea [about the count]. I lost track because [on] that throw down to second base, I lost track,” Smith told reporters. “I looked at the board and it said 1-1 and I was like, ‘All right, next pitch.’ I had no idea until I came back in the dugout.”

Immediately after the game, Sox manager Alex Cora indicated he’d been unaware of the count snafu during the contest. Wegner, meanwhile, was mortified to learn of his blunder.

“I just watched the video,” Wegner told a pool reporter. “I didn’t know what happened until I came in [to the umpire’s room after the game] and apparently I somehow didn’t count the second swinging [strike] because I said the count was 1 and 2 [after the third swing]. It was actually strike three.”

Wegner said no one on the field suggested he had the count wrong. Had someone done so, the issue could have been corrected.

“Had anybody caught it, we can always go and call replay and check the count,” Wegner said. “I’ve never done that before. I’m not happy about it. Just made a mistake.”

Alex Speier can be reached at alex.speier@globe.com. Follow him @alexspeier.