Home plate umpire Kerwin Danley leaves game after getting hit in mask

LOS ANGELES -- Home plate umpire Kerwin Danley has left the game after being hit in the mask by a foul tip off the bat of Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger.

Danley stumbled backward and Royals catcher Drew Butera tried to hold him up before the umpire went to the ground in the first inning Sunday at Dodger Stadium.

Danley eventually sat up and drank a bottle of water as Bellinger and the Royals' infielders gathered around the plate and watched. The temperature was 94 degrees at game time, with Los Angeles in the grip of unusually high heat and humidity in recent days.

Danley got to his feet, toweled off his face and resumed working through the top of the second inning.

But he didn't return for the bottom of the frame. Adam Hamari moved from first base to home plate to replace Danley.

---

More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball