BOSTON – Rays reliever Jason Adam was forced out of Thursday night's game at Fenway Park in the ninth inning when pitching coach Kyle Snyder headed to the mound with Tampa Bay out of visits.
After a long delay, Erasmo Ramírez entered with two runners on and retired Romy González on a game-ending groundout to save a 7-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
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“Hundred percent on me. I let the mound visits slip in my mind,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said. “It’s on me. I screwed up and I’m glad that it didn’t cost us a ballgame.”
Isaac Paredes hit a tiebreaking single in the top of the ninth off Kenley Jansen that caromed off the Green Monster, and Richie Palacios added a sacrifice fly to give Tampa Bay a 7-5 lead.
Adam entered in the bottom of the ninth and retired his first two batters before Rob Refsnyder walked and Rafael Devers singled.
Snyder started from the dugout to the mound and had crossed the foul line when he was stopped by plate umpire Alex Tosi. Tampa Bay used its last allowable mound visit when catcher Ben Rortvedt went out to speak with Adam after the walk to Refsnyder.
“I have a clean inning, we don’t have to deal with any of that,” Adam said. “I’m really bad at keeping track of our mound visits.”
If a team has exhausted its mound visits entering the ninth inning, it gets an additional one.
“The rule is clear, once he crosses the foul line, if they’re out of trips, the pitcher must be removed. We attempted to stop him and he kept walking,” umpire crew chief Phil Cuzzi told a pool reporter.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora came onto the field, arguing a pitching change had to occur because the Rays attempted a mound visit.
After a delay of about six minutes for a rules check by umpires, Cash motioned to the bullpen. Following a gap of about 8 1/2 minutes between pitches, Ramírez retired Gonzalez on a 2-2 delivery for his first save since 2020.
“You never expect those kind of situations,” Ramírez said. “They called to the bullpen and I’m the only arm available in that moment, so whatever happened, it’s my name that’s going to be called.”
Cora complained that Ramírez should not have been allowed time to warm up on the mound.
“You've got to throw him out right away,” Cora said. “That’s the way the rule goes.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB