In First Game Behind the Plate, Jen Pawol Was Just Another MLB Ump

ATLANTA — The biggest story at Truist Park on Sunday wasn’t that the Atlanta Braves completed a five-game series win over the Miami Marlins. It was that, for the first time in Major League Baseball history, a woman called balls and strikes in a regular-season game.

And she looked like she fit right in.

Jen Pawol, who made history Saturday as the first female umpire to work a regular-season MLB game, took her spot behind the plate in Atlanta’s 7-1 win. Fans greeted her with signs reading "Go Jen!" and loud cheers every time she appeared on the video board.

Jen Pawol was the home plate umpire for the series finale between the Marlins and Braves.

(Imagn-Images)

Her very first pitch was a miss — inside, but called a strike. As Braves play-by-play broadcaster Joe Simpson said, "Joey Wentz likes that first call from Jen Pawol!"

But Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards didn't dispute the call or show much reaction to it. The Braves then called timeout to get the ball to commemorate the occasion for Pawol.

From there, she settled in and called a game that was, by the numbers, both perfectly imperfect and perfectly ordinary. According to tracking data from @BallsAndStrikes on X, Pawol’s accuracy was 91% — about 3 percentage points below the MLB average, but right in line with what other big-league umps posted Sunday. Ramon De Jesus scored 90% in the Rays–Mariners game, while Tony Randazzo hit 91% in Royals–Twins.

Pawol had five missed calls that favored Miami and eight that went Atlanta’s way. If anything, her debut behind the plate proved the point: she was just like any other umpire.

And that’s not a bad thing.

The Braves' offense made her job a little easier by giving her plenty of run support. Matt Olson, Marcell Ozuna and Michael Harris II each went deep, while left-hander Joey Wentz earned his first win since being claimed off waivers from Minnesota on July 11. Wentz allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings, holding Miami scoreless after the second inning.

Ozuna’s three-run homer and Harris’ solo shot came in the seventh to put the game away, giving Atlanta four wins in the five-game set.

RELATED: Crew Chief Chris Guccione Calls Jen Pawol’s MLB Debut 'One of the Proudest Moments' Of His Career

Pawol’s weekend marked a milestone that was years in the making. A three-time all-conference catcher at Hofstra and a 2001 world champion with the U.S. women’s softball team, she began umpiring softball games in high school in the early 1990s before making the switch to minor league baseball in 2016. Since then, she worked more than 1,200 minor league games before getting the call-up for the Braves–Marlins series.

Jen Pawol made her MLB debut on Saturday.

(Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images)

She made history Saturday at first base, then stood in a much hotter spotlight on Sunday by manning home plate.

Former Braves pitcher John Rocker summed up the moment with a little humor on X: "Huge congrats to Jen Pawol on becoming the first female MLB umpire. Here’s to many years of arguing with MLB managers over balls and strikes. Just don’t be as horseshit as Angel Hernandez and you’ll be fine."

For two days in Atlanta, all eyes were on the umpire. On Sunday, she blended right in — which might be the best compliment a plate ump can get.