It was a “mess” of an afternoon in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Wednesday.
Not only did the Boston Red Sox blow a two-run lead in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. But the game also finished under protest.
In the top of the eighth inning, Rays manager Kevin Cash brought in left-hander Adam Kolarek to begin the inning, facing Sam Travis. After getting Travis to pop out, Kolarek moved to first base, replacing Ji-Man Choi, and Chaz Roe took the mound. Roe got Mookie Betts to fly out, and that prompted Cash to come back out and move Kolarek back to the mound to face Rafael Devers. It was at that point the umpires had trouble determining who would hit where in the Rays’ lineup, resulting in a uniquely frustrating 14-minute delay in which the umps went back-and-forth talking to the managers before ultimately putting on the replay headsets.
Once things got settled, Devers swung at the first pitch from Kolarek and grounded out to end the inning. During the break, Red Sox manager Alex Cora came back out having indicated Boston would play the game under protest, visibly frustrated, and continued to speak with the umpires. That caused another, albeit far more brief, stoppage.
All of this, mind you, was with Angel Hernandez behind the plate, an umpire that has drawn the ire of plenty over the years.
After the game, Cora discussed the unusual situation.
“They did the pitcher moving to the position and we felt they made some illegal substitutions,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “It was a mess at one point, I wasn’t even able to keep up with Angel. So we protested the game, let’s see where it goes.
Cora then took what appeared to be a deserved shot at Hernandez and the umpiring crew for the chaos.
“No, I wasn’t surprised (the umpires didn’t have a better handle on the situation),” Cora said. “When (Cash) put (Kolarek) at first the first time, I asked Angel about it and he gave me an answer and I’m like, ‘OK this is about to get interesting,’ and it did.
“I’m rattled right now,” Cora later said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Here are some other notes from Wednesday’s Red Sox-Rays game:
— David Price, who was handed his fourth loss of the season, wasn’t necessarily bad, but a couple of mistakes ultimately burned him.
The southpaw, tasked with protecting a 2-0 lead given to him in the third inning, allowed a leadoff homer to Tommy Pham in the fourth. Then in the fifth, the Rays started knocking Price around the park, eventually plating two in the frame to put themselves up by the deciding margin.
While it’s an improvement from how he’s looked in some recent outings, Price still is stuck in a bit of a rough patch, having not earned a win since July 7. Since June 18, the Red Sox are 3-4 in Price’s starts.
— Although the Red Sox earned the series win, Wednesday’s loss is a tough one, as it puts the Rays back up on the Sox by one game in the American League Wild Card standings.
The Red Sox now will return home for an absolutely massive four-game set against the New York Yankees. While the Red Sox probably aren’t catching the Yankees for the AL East lead, getting steamrolled by New York at home won’t spell good things for Boston.
