The Atlanta Braves and Boston Red Sox concluded their spring training exhibition game in a bizarre tie thanks to the MLB’s new pitch clock violation rules.
With Braves shortstop Cal Conley stepping up to the plate awaiting a ball from Red Sox pitcher Robert Kwiatkowski, the pitch clock caught Conley falling out of its new eight-second window to get set and called him for the new penalty.
It was the third strike for the Braves at the bottom of the ninth, which ended the game in a tie. MLB games don’t go into extra innings during spring training.
What stung for Atlanta is that the bases were loaded, and Conley had a chance for the dramatic win. All the shortstop could do was laugh as the game slipped out of everyone’s grasp.
We have our first wild moment of the pitch clock era.
Red Sox and Braves tie 6-6 with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th. pic.twitter.com/kkcWdzDsot
— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) February 25, 2023
The MLB tried to speed up the overall game by installing a pitch clock, and it’s going to be one of the running themes of the upcoming baseball season if it continues to will endings like this into existence.
It’s a tough break for the Braves to get tagged this early in the process by the new rule, but at least for both teams, these games won’t matter by spring training’s end. The real problems could come on Opening Day.