New 20-Pitch Rule Saves Ugly First Inning For New Red Sox Pitcher Garrett Richards

To say that it was a tough day for Boston Red Sox pitcher Garrett Richards on Monday on the mound would be an understatement.

The Red Sox hurler was part of some spring training Major League history. Because of a new '20-pitch rule,' the Sox stopped the first inning after he threw 23 pitches.

In the inning, Richards loaded the bases and walked in a run against the Atlanta Braves before the inning was finally halted.

There was some good news for the pitcher though. He went back out for a second inning and was able to get out of it throwing a 1-2-3 frame.

The new rule that was put in place allows managers to decide whether they want pitchers to keep throwing after 20 pitches or whether to stop the inning and end the frame, no matter how many outs there are.

“It’s building blocks, man,” Richards said after his outing.

“Obviously, you want to finish it and you want to make all the outs that your outing requires,” he said. “So, yeah, it was a little frustrating.”

Richards just seemed to have trouble finding the strike zone. He gave up two runs, three hits and two walks in the first inning before it ended.

“By all means, not happy about it. Today’s outing is not what you’re going to see from me on a regular basis, I’ll tell you that right now," he said.

“I just needed to stay a little bit more in competitive mode versus mechanical mode. So once that switch kind of flipped, everything kind of felt great again."

The start was Richards' first for the Red Sox, after he spent 10 seasons playing out west for the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres.