Erasmo Ramírez retired Romy González on a game-ending ground out with two players on base after the Rays had to replace Jason Adam due to losing count of their mound visits. This helped Tampa Bay secure a 7-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.
“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 broke the tie with a single in the ninth off Kenley Jansen (1-1) that hit off the Green Monster, and Richie Palacios added a sacrifice fly.
Adam gave up a two-out walk to Rob Refsnyder and a single to Rafael Devers. Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder started to approach the mound when he was stopped by plate umpire Alex Tosi. The Rays had lost track of mound visits when catcher Ben Rortvedt had gone 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 used up all their mound visits by the ninth inning, they get an extra one. But the Rays had already used their last one in the ninth.
“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,” crew chief Phil Cuzzi said to 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, Ramirez retired Gonzalez on a 2-2 pitch 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 got to throw him out right away,” Cora said. “That’s the way the rules go.”
Tampa Bay took three of four from the Red Sox, won for the eighth time in their last nine games at Boston, and are 14-3 against Boston over the past two seasons. The Rays (23-22) moved ahead of Boston into third place in the AL East.
