Red Sox’s Alex Cora Sparks Drama to Oust Rays Pitcher in Ninth!

Red Sox manager Alex Cora successfully argued for the removal of Rays reliever Jason Adam in the ninth inning on Thursday, but the Red Sox still fell to the Rays 7-5 at Fenway Park.

“It wasn’t confusing, and they (the umpires) messed it up,” Cora stated.

In the ninth, with runners on first and third and two outs, Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder visited Adam on the mound, despite Tampa having exhausted their mound visits. According to MLB rules, after a team exhausts its mound visits, any subsequent visit requires a pitching change unless the pitcher hasn’t faced a minimum of three consecutive batters.

Cora argued that Adam, who had faced the required number of batters, should be immediately removed, forcing Rays reliever Erasmo Ramírez to enter the game without sufficient warmup. However, the umpire crew reviewed the rule in New York, giving Ramírez time to warm up in the bullpen before entering the game.

“They had time to warm up Erasmo there in the bullpen,” Cora said. “You’ve got to throw him out right away. He comes in, he gets eight (warmup) pitches, and then he goes. That’s the way the rule goes.”

Ramírez induced a groundout from Romy Gonzalez for the final out.

“By the time I went out there and argued, with the rule check, he had time to warm up,” Cora remarked. “It was probably going to be the same outcome, whatever. But not being prepared for a big league game, just eight pitches and go to battle, it’s tough.”

When asked why the umpires initially allowed Adam to stay in the game, Cora explained, “They said they stopped him (Snyder) before he got to the mound. They went to the rule check, and from New York, they decided yeah, he had no visits (remaining).”

Cora concluded, “Basically, they (the umpire crew) messed it up. New York corrected it, but by that time, it took like seven minutes.”