The Tampa Bay Rays beat the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday in a very important stretch run game for both clubs. But that’s certainly not what anyone was talking about after the final out was made at Tropicana Field.
A bizarre, frustrating and confusing scene unfolded in the eighth inning of the Rays’ eventual 3-2 win. Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash wanted to maximize his matchup opportunities, so he actually removed one of his pitchers — Adam Kolarek — and put him at first base. The idea was the left-handed Kolarek would return to the mound to get Rafael Devers after Chaz Roe pitched to the right-handed Mookie Betts.
Roe got Betts to fly out to left field, and Cash shuffled his lineup to get Kolarek back to the mound. That, of course, is oversimplifying the entire situation, as Red Sox manager Alex Cora informally protested the move. Cora never seemed to get an answer he liked over the course of about 20 minutes before officially playing the rest of the game under protest. The protest had to do with how the Rays batting order would look after the Kolarek/Roe swap, with Cora and the Red Sox contending Tampa Bay should lose its designated hitter.
Here’s what Cora had to say about it all after the game.
On what happened: In that inning? They did the pitcher moving to a position and we felt that they made some illegal substitutions. It was a mess at one point. I wasn’t even to keep up with (home-plate umpire Angel Hernandez). We protested the game, let’s see where it goes.Â
On what he argued: It was when they brought in, there’s a lot there. They brought in the lefty for Charlie (Morton) and then they brought in Roe for Choi. Angel, they kept the DH at that moment, so they had a pitcher, a first base, they had a pitcher on the mound and they still had a DH. It’s kind of hard to explain. I’m sorry I can’t, like, go over it because there’s a lot. It’s just illegal substitution, we’ll see what happens.
On the umpires’ handling of the situation: I wasn’t surprised. When they brought in the lefty and we saw what was going to happen when he put him at first the first time, I asked Angel about and he gave me an answer, and I’m like, ‘OK, this is about to get interesting.’ And it did.
On whether the lineup change was announced: I’m not going to get into it. It was a mess.
On whether it was a miscommunication or illegal changes were made: We’re about to find out. I got my lineup card, I know where I’m at. I have good memory, as you know.Â
Here’s what Rays manager Kevin Cash had to say about the situation:
“There appeared to be some confusion, but I’m confident we got it right, and at the end of the day, everybody got it right,” Cash told reporters as seen on the Sun Sports broadcast. “Obviously not customary what took place, but I’m glad the guys executed pitches. A lot of delays in there, but fortunate that Chaz and AK kind of kept their heads and made big pitches because they were facing the teeth of their lineup which is really good.
“I wasn’t privy to all of the conversations, especially between Alex and the group over there. So I’m not exactly sure what he was saying, but my big concern was whatever is taking place can we speed it up? Because I’ve got a guy on the mound just standing there which is a little uncharacteristic in any game, and it was tight at that point.”
