Talk about your game-within-a-game. The Braves’ 5-4 win over the Brewers Thursday night will be remembered more for eight warm-up pitches than a single competitive one.
Brewers manager Ron Roenicke was working with a short-handed coaching staff – both his pitching coach and bullpen coach were attending children’s graduation ceremonies – when he called upon left-hander Will Smith to enter the game in the seventh inning. Problem was neither Smith nor anyone else in the Brewers bullpen had gotten word that he was supposed to warm up.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez became a national baseball topic – including during an “roundtable” on MLB Network Friday – after he insisted to home plate umpire Fieldin Culbreth that Smith throw no more than the maximum eight warm-up pitches allowed on the mound.
“The rules are the rules,” was Gonzalez’s explanation, when he revisited the topic Friday afternoon, and it’s hard to blame him. The game was on the line, with the Braves trailing 4-3. Pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit proceeded to single in two runs through a drawn-in infield six pitches into his at-bat against Smith for the game-winning hit.
The miscommunication between Roenicke and his bullpen had already caused a lengthy delay in the action. There was another delay after Culbreth explained Roenicke’s mistake to Gonzalez, and Gonzalez insisted the eight-pitch rule be enforced.
“He said there was a mess up but Smith is in the game,” Gonzalez explained Friday. “I said ‘That’s fine. Smith is in the game but he gets eight warm-up pitches.’”
Culbreth then called an umpiring supervisor in New York from the video replay headset on the field to see if he had any leeway to allow Smith more pitches. He was told no. The seventh inning, which also included a video challenge of a call at second base, took 47 minutes.
“It’s a tricky situation,” Braves third baseman Chris Johnson said. “That’s the rule, and it works to our advantage. But you don’t want to see anybody get hurt either. The kid is good. It’s his career.”
Smith, who has an ERA of 0.42, earned a lot of respect from the Braves for more than just his pitching Thursday night but from how he handled an obviously difficult situation.
“He was pretty calm and collected,” Johnson said. “I think a lot of guys could have taken that differently. He went out there, he threw his eight (warm-up) pitches. He didn’t argue much and then threw. He gave up hits, never got mad or anything, just kept his composure and walked off the field.”
Braves reliever Anthony Varvaro, sitting a locker over from Johnson in the Braves clubhouse when he made those comments, chimed in with how impressed he was that Smith didn’t try to do too much with his pitches and get hurt, making the best of a tough situation.
“Best-case scenario for us,” Johnson said. “We won the game and he didn’t get hurt.”
