Rays Perform Scorecard Magic to Allow Adam Kolarek to Face 2 Batters but Somehow Skip Mookie Betts
By Max Scoli
For those of you who were watching the Tampa Bays Rays game against the Boston Red Sox Wednesday and are still confused about the whole Adam Kolarek situation, allow me to clear things up.
Adam Kolarek the Rays pitcher versus Adam Kolarek the Rays first baseman pic.twitter.com/nfkeINYwGV
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) July 24, 2019
The Rays brought in the left-handed reliever to face Sam Travis. Once he popped out to first, Tampa made a prompt swap to avoid the favorable righty-lefty matchup with reigning AL MVP Mookie Betts at the plate-- except Kolarek didn't come out of the game.
Cora says Rays kept the DH, meaning they had a pitcher, first baseman, pitcher and DH in the lineup. "Hard to explain...there's a lot. Illegal substitutions but we'll see what happens."
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) July 24, 2019
He moved over to first base, his secondary position, as Betts flew out to left field. Once this happened, Rays manager Kevin Cash put Kolarek back on the mound to face lefty Rafael Devers.
And chaos ensued.
Rays doing the stuff the Rays need to do, and do well: lefty Adam Kolarek gets an out, moves to first base when a right-hander is called on to face Mookie Betts, and now Kolarek returns to the mound to pitch to Devers. Alex Cora asking umps about lineup issue.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) July 24, 2019
There was a large delay due to the fact that umpire Ángel Hernández had absolutely no idea whether the move was legal or not. As for the Red Sox, they were pretty clear about what they thought of Cash's trickery.
No.
— Red Sox (@RedSox) July 24, 2019
Cash once again showed his brilliance as a manager. Now that he pulled off this unique maneuver, you can bet that other MLB teams will start to follow in his footsteps.
You can also bet that these teams' opponents will insist on playing under protest just like Boston did.