Red Sox-Rays Fiasco is Angel Hernandez's Fault and No One is Surprised
By Parker White
During Wednesday's game between the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox, Rays manager Kevin Cash did some on-field trickery with left-handed reliever Adam Kolarek.
Kolarek faced the first batter of the inning, Sam Travis, and after he retired him he moved over to first base and Chaz Roe faced Mookie Betts, who flew out to left field.
This is when things got even more confusing for umpire Angel Hernandez (shocker). Kolarek, who was over at first base, returned to the mound to faced Rafael Devers, who he retired to end the inning.
From pool reporter: Angel Hernandez said that Cash never specified where Kolarek would hit when moved to first base. He said there is rule that states in such a case it is umpire's discretion to place hitter in spot in lineup.
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) July 24, 2019
The game ended up being delayed for over 20 minutes because Hernandez didn't know how to handle this and went on the headset to review it. Why? Partly because Hernandez said that Cash never specified on where Kolarek would hit in the lineup.
Belief from Red Sox is that Hernandez never wrote anything down on lineup card initially, with Kolarek's designation only appearing after was disputed https://t.co/Z91jCAPs7h
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) July 24, 2019
This whole thing led to Red Sox manager Alex Cora protesting the 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay, as Hernandez didn't do his job in handling the lineup card correctly.
Alex Cora: "It was a mess."
— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) July 24, 2019
Umpire Angel Hernandez said there wasn't any reason for him to protest. "That's what we were trying to tell him, but he wanted to protest."
Story on today's bizarre delay in Red Sox/Rays:https://t.co/ZRoB20kK26
The move Cash made was totally legal, but it was screwed up because Angel Hernandez didn't do his job. Mistakes happen, but it seems these kinds of things only occur when he's working a particular game.