Umpire Injured in Freak Accident

Plate umpire Ted Hendry had to leave the Texas-New York Yankees game Wednesday night after he was cut in the head in a freak accident in the bottom of the eighth inning in Arlington, Texas.

Hendry was bending over to clear a bat away from home plate after Domingo Cedeno had singled when the umpire was hit by New York catcher Joe Girardi’s discarded mask.

The mask cut Hendry in the forehead and scalp and required seven stitches to close. Texas orthopedic surgeon Dr. John Conway closed the cut and said “he’ll be just fine.”

Hendry was sent to a hospital for X-rays.

Crew chief Larry Barnett replaced Hendry behind the plate in the ninth.

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Bret Saberhagen, in his third rehab start, allowed only two hits over 4 2/3 innings as the Trenton Thunder beat the Harrisburg Senators, 4-0, in Eastern League play in Trenton, N.J.

Saberhagen threw 66 pitches in his second start for Trenton, the Boston Red Sox’ double-A team. He made his first appearance for the Lowell, Mass., Spinners of the Class-A New York-Penn League.

The 33-year-old right-hander is scheduled to make one more start for the Thunder before joining the Red Sox in the middle of the month.

Saberhagen was 141-100 with the Royals, Mets and Rockies over his first 12 major league seasons. But he missed all of 1996 because of rotator cuff surgery.

He signed with the Red Sox as a free agent in the off-season.