Chicago — AJ Hinch complained about it when it happened at Comerica Park last Sunday. When it happened again on Saturday, well, it was time to send an alert to Major League Baseball.
In the bottom of the 10th inning Saturday, a game the Tigers would lose 2-1, reliever Jose Cisnero had finished his warmups, the defense was set and the hitter Romy Gonzalez was walking up to the plate — but the free runner, Yoan Moncada, was still in the dugout.
Hinch was on the top of the dugout step asking home-plate umpire Cory Blaser about the delay. Finally, Moncada came trotting out to second base.
“That’s twice in a row,” Hinch said. “I’m going to make sure the league knows. That’s ridiculous.”
Last Sunday in Detroit, it was Luis Robert, Jr., who was tardy getting out to second base.
“That’s a little bit of an unintended consequence of the pitch clock,” Hinch said. “I don’t know if it’s gamesmanship or if it’s just slow-playing the situation, or whatever. I don’t want to accuse (the White Sox) of anything. But I do think that’s part of the rule that will or should be tweaked going into next year.”
The pitcher has a proscribed timeframe to complete his warmups between innings. He has to throw his last one with no later than with 30 seconds left or he is assessed a ball. The hitter has to be in the box and ready at a proscribed time or he is assessed a strike.
Hinch believes there should be a strike assessed to the hitter if the runner isn’t in place in the same proscribed time.
“We punish with a ball or strike everybody in the play,” Hinch said. “I think we need to look at that in the 10th inning as your obligation to be out there at second base ready to go.”
Hinch said he wasn’t accusing the White Sox of gamesmanship and he didn’t think it was something that was done on purpose.
“It’s just not a play we’d think of as something that’s purposely done,” he said. “But it’s not a play I would think of as being a problem, either, until you experience it. The runner should be out and ready to go. I’m going to ask the league about it.
“Those are part of the nuances of the new rules that need to be ironed out through the competition.”
Ill-timed communication
As you might expect, Cisnero was distraught after the game Saturday. He misheard the call catcher Eric Haase made through his PitchCom earpiece with the bases loaded in the 10th inning and threw a 96-mph four-seam fastball instead of the 87-mph slider that Haase was expecting.
The result: His pitch hit Blaser directly in the facemask and knocked him backward. The ball caromed away toward the Tigers’ dugout and Moncada scampered home with the winning run.
Cisnero didn’t want to talk about the play immediately after the game, though through the club’s interpreter Carlos Guillen, he confirmed Haase’s account that he misheard the call. He further explained the play Sunday morning.
“The PitchCom audio was low, and of course, the crowd was cheering so loud,” he said, through Guillen. “It was a big moment in the game. I swear to God I heard ‘fastball.’ But I checked with my teammates, everyone who heard it in the device, and they heard slider.”
The PitchCom calls are made in English.
“I swear I heard fastball,” Cisnero said. “That hasn’t happened to me much, where I am crossing up pitches.”
Haase said after the game that he thought Cisnero heard sinker. Which is a two-seam fastball that, for Cisnero, moves in on right-handed hitters. Cisnero, though, said he heard fastball and threw a four-seamer.
“Sometimes you see things that aren’t there and sometimes you hear things differently,” Hinch said. “Cis may have been thinking one pitch, sinker over slider, and the miscommunication happened. I’ve been there. I’ve put down two fingers for a pitch when I wanted to put down one finger.
“Human beings are different. We’re not perfect.”
Major League Baseball released a statement Saturday that Blaser was being held for medical observation, where he remained Sunday. He was replaced on Sunday’s crew by Alex MacKay.
chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @cmccosky