MLB notes: Faulty clocks disrupt new speed-up rules in minors

Minor league baseball’s new speed-up rules hit a glitch on opening day.

The center-field clock in Buffalo stopped working after the second inning of the Triple-A Bisons’ opener against the Rochester Red Wings on Thursday. The game was the first on the regular-season minor league schedule, and first to debut pace-of-play rules introduced this offseason.

Pitchers have 2 minutes and 25 seconds to begin their windup or come to set between innings. And 20 seconds to do so between pitches.

Each pitch is supposed to be timed by three clocks in the stadium – two behind home plate and one beyond center field.

The clocks worked through two innings before the center-field clock went out to start the third. It came back on at the start of the fourth inning. All three clocks then went out at the top of the sixth, then came back on for the bottom half of the inning.

The new rules account for clock malfunctions. If they happen, umpires are supposed to keep time on a stopwatch while the stadium clocks are turned off.

Otherwise, both starting pitchers wasted no time in delivering their first pitches under a light drizzle.

Bisons starter Andrew Albers got his first pitch off with about 13 seconds left on the pitch clock to open the game. Red Wings starter Alex Meyer was even quicker, getting his first pitch off with 27 seconds left on the clock.

The first inning lasted an efficient 15 minutes, and the first three innings took exactly 45 minutes.

Baseball announced the changes in February after the average time of a nine-inning game stretched to a record 3 hours, 2 minutes last year.

Phones cause delay

The White Sox and Royals were delayed for nearly 5 minutes in the first inning when the phone system that allows the managers to call from their dugouts went down.

Royals spokesman Mike Swanson said both teams were affected by the outage, which prevented the managers from contacting their bullpens or their replay officials.

Clearing the bases

The Baltimore Orioles traded reliever Ryan Webb, minor league catcher Brian Ward and a draft pick to the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor league catcher Chris O’Brien and minor league pitcher Ben Rowen. … San Diego Padres right-hander Ian Kennedy left Thursday’s home opener after straining his left hamstring in the third inning. … Cleveland left fielder Michael Brantley was out of the lineup for a second straight day because of lower-back stiffness.