ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Jen Pawol breezed through Sunday\u2019s Marlins-Braves game as if breaking a gender barrier was just another day on the job.<\/p>\n
Considering Pawol became the first female umpire to work behind the plate in the majors, making unprecedented history appear to be routine was especially impressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Jen did a really nice job,\u201d Miami manager Clayton McCullough said after Atlanta\u2019s 7-1 win over the Marlins.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she\u2019s very composed back there. She handled and managed the game very well. And big day for her. Big day for Major League Baseball. I congratulated her again on that because it\u2019s quite the accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was an impressive cap to a memorable weekend for Pawol. She made history in Saturday\u2019s doubleheader as the first female umpire to work a regular-season game in the majors. She called the bases in the doubleheader before moving behind the plate on Sunday, placing her in the brightest spotlight for an umpire.<\/p>\n
Pawol never showed any indication of being affected by the attention, even while knowing every call would be closely watched.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongrats to Jen, obviously,\u201d said Braves left-hander Joey Wentz, who earned the win by allowing only one run in 5 1\/3 innings.<\/p>\n
Asked about Pawol\u2019s calls, Wentz said, \u201cI try not to focus on the zone, to be honest with you. … I thought it was good though.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Umpire Jen Pawol stands at third base during a game between the Marlins and Braves on Saturday.<\/p>\n
(Brett Davis \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
There were few opportunities for disputes as Wentz and Miami starting pitcher Cal Quantrill combined for only three strikeouts. The first called third strike came in the fifth inning, when Pawol used a fist pump when calling out Miami\u2019s Kyle Stowers on a pitch that was close to the edge of the plate.<\/p>\n
McCullough was seen in the Marlins dugout with his palms held up as if asking about the pitch call. He said after the game it\u2019s not unusual to question a close called strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the course of the game, there are a number of times that you just are going to be asking for clarity on one, if you aren\u2019t sure,\u201d McCullough said. \u201cSo it could have been that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 48-year-old Pawol was called up as a rover umpire, so her next assignment in the majors has not been announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish her the best moving forward as she continues to, I\u2019m sure, hopefully one day be up full time, you know, a permanent big league umpire,\u201d McCullough said.<\/p>\n
Pawol also received positive reviews from Braves manager Brian Snitker, who on Saturday said, \u201cYou can tell she knows what she does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pawol\u2019s work in the minor leagues began in 2016 when she was assigned to the Gulf Coast League. She worked in the Triple-A championship game in 2023 and in spring training games in 2024 and again this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe certainly didn\u2019t call her up from A ball, right?\u201d Quantrll said. \u201cSo yeah, I\u2019m sure she was well prepared. And like I said I think, you know, part of the game moving forward is that if this is normal then we\u2019re going to treat it normal, too. So, you know, I thought it was fine. I think she did she did a quality job. … And yeah, I think she\u2019d be very proud of herself. And, you know, it\u2019s kind of a cool little thing to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pawol spoke to reporters on Saturday when she said, \u201cThe dream actually came true today. I\u2019m still living in it. I\u2019m so grateful to my family and Major League Baseball for creating such an incredible work environment. \u2026 I\u2019m just so thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pawol received cheers from fans on both days. On Sunday, some held up \u201cWay to go Jen!\u201d signs.<\/p>\n
Odum writes for the Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Jen Pawol breezed through Sunday\u2019s Marlins-Braves game as if breaking a gender barrier was just another day on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2394],"tags":[191,46,4166,5,192,6281,190,1550,38635,4532,38696,7219,778,4,39815,38638,10336,670,2111,39816,31651],"class_list":{"0":"post-239398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-braves","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-braves","10":"tag-atlantabraves","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-braves","13":"tag-call","14":"tag-day","15":"tag-doubleheader","16":"tag-jen-pawol","17":"tag-major","18":"tag-marlins-brave-game","19":"tag-mccullough","20":"tag-miami","21":"tag-mlb","22":"tag-mlb-umpire-gender-barrier","23":"tag-pawol","24":"tag-plate","25":"tag-saturday","26":"tag-sunday","27":"tag-third-strike","28":"tag-wentz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115007442650051559","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}