BOSTON — Rafael Devers admitted he’s still adjusting to the pace-of-pay rules that have gone into effect for the 2023 season, but he blamed himself for the mistake that cost the Red Sox an out in the eighth inning of Boston’s 10-9 Opening Day loss to Baltimore.
Leading off the eighth inning, the Red Sox third baseman struck out on an automatic strike, making him the first Major League player punched out by the new rule.
Under the new pitch clock rules, the batter has to be attentive to the pitcher with 8 seconds left on the pitch timer. Devers was looking down and kicking his cleats in the dirt when the clock showed 8. Home plate umpire and crew chief Lance Barksdale made the call.
“It’s a new rule so we have to adapt,” Devers said through translator Carlos Villoria Benítez. “In that situation, I’m not sure because the pitcher was not ready either. It was a tough situation, but the umpire made a decision and we have to respect it.
“It’s something that you have to adapt. It’s not easy when you’re facing a guy throwing that hard in the ninth inning. But you can’t do anything about it right now so you have to adapt and keep going,” he added. “That’s something I need to adjust to. That’s not on anybody else. It’s just on me.”
The play happened with the Red Sox down 10-4, but they rallied for three runs after Devers’ K and left a runner in scoring position, so an extra out might have been valuable as Boston attempted a comeback. Devers was 2-for-3 with an RBI double before the strikeout.
Devers had less time to adjust to the new rules as he played for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, an event that used old rules.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora thought they might reset the pitch clock.
“Obviously he wasn’t ready. There’s a few things that we got at the end of the week,” said Cora citing a rules clarification. “Pitches toward the head you can reset or big swings. I thought he took a big swing on the previous one. No excuses. We know the rules.”
Story by Matt Vautour, masslive.com
