Rays Run Out of Mound Visits, What Happens Now?

The Rays were forced to replace pitcher Jason Adam in the 9th inning when pitching coach Kyle Snyder tried making a mound visit when the team had already exhausted its four-visit limit, after Red Sox manager Alex Cora argued the umpires' initial decision, which appeared to allow the pitcher to remain in the game.

The call went to Replay Review as a crew chief-initiated rules check, and upon review Crew Chief Phil Cuzzi ordered Rays manager Kevin Cash replace Adam with Erasmo Ramírez, who had been warning in the bullpen during the extended replay delay.

Turns out Tampa Bay didn't even need Adam after all, as Ramírez enduced a game-ending groundout on the very first batter he faced, after Adams had gotten the Rays into trouble, with a walk and single to put the tying run on base.

As for the rule, the confusion dates back prior to the beginning of the 2024 season, when MLB issued a press release stating, "Mound visits will be reduced from five per game to four, and an extra mound visit will still be awarded for the ninth inning if the defensive team has zero remaining at the end of the eighth inning."

Turns out...the press release was wrong, or at the very least misleading.

Official Baseball Rule 5.10(m)(4) states, "A manager or coach who crosses the foul line on their way to the mound after their team has exhausted its mound visits must make a pitching change, unless the pitcher has not pitched to a minimum of three consecutive batters [in such case, the pitcher will be replaced after the third batter]," which conflicts with MLB's prior statement about an "extra" mound visit.

Replays indicate that despite HP Umpire Alex Tosi's warning that the Rays had already used their allotted four mound visits, coach Snyder nonetheless crossed the foul line with the intent of speaking with his struggling pitcher, meaning Tampa's pitcher had to be replaced...and because no one was warming in the bullpen at the time, had umpires immediately ordered the pitching change, Snyder would have been ejected for delay of game ("In circumstances in which a team is forced to make an unintended pitching change by operation of this Rule, and there is no relief pitcher warming up in the bullpen, the manager or coach who violated the Rule by exceeding his team’s allotted number of mound visits shall be subject to ejection from the game" [OBR 5.10[m][4]]).

Because Ramírez was warming up in the bullpen when the pitching change was finally ordered, there was no ejection.

It turns out the extra mound visit after eight innings does exist in the rulebook under OBR 5.10(m)(3), but it only applies to catchers in very specific circumstances: "Cross Up in Signs. In the event a team has exhausted its allotment of mound visits in a game (or extra inning) and the home plate umpire determines that the catcher and pitcher did not have a shared understanding of the location or type of pitch that had been signaled by the catcher (otherwise referred to as a “cross up”), the home plate umpire may, upon request of the catcher, allow the catcher to make a brief mound visit."

That makes this confusion a real cross up in rules communication. | Video as follows:

Alternate Link: Rays run out of visits, forced to remove pitcher after a bit of rules confusion