James Karinchak becomes first Guardians pitcher to be penalized by MLB's pitch clock rule

James Karinchak had to pick up the speed. Then the eighth inning effectively sped up on him — though a foul tip that didn't go the Guardians' way certainly didn't help matters.

In the process, Major League Baseball's new pitch clock rule was brought into the spotlight on Opening Day for the Guardians and Seattle Mariners. Already, the pitch clock designed to hasten the pace showed up in the game's biggest moment. Or rather, it helped lead to the decisive blow.

In the eighth inning of a scoreless game the Guardians went on to lose 3-0, Karinchak had Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford down 0-2 before he became the first Guardians pitcher to be penalized by the pitch clock for not beginning his delivery by the time the clock hit zero. The result was an automatic ball to bring the count to 1-2.

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Now, Karinchak getting nabbed by the new rule seemed like almost a certainty entering the season considering he's known for his pre-pitch routine, which goes a little something like flip the ball, tug on the hair, adjust the cap, and repeat two or three or seven times. If any pitcher in baseball was going to have put some effort into adhering to the pitch clock, he'd have to be near the top of the list, if not at the very top.

Karinchak went from up 0-2 to eventually walking Crawford to put the go-ahead runner on base. Perhaps the bigger element to that walk was that the fourth ball, clearly visible on replay, deflected off Crawford's bat. But that isn't a call that can be reviewed, and Crawford was awarded first base.

Karinchak then hit the next better before giving up a decisive three-run home run to Ty France.

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There isn't any clear evidence that the pitch clock infraction was what threw off Karinchak. And the call of whether the pitch to Crawford was ball four or a foul ball likely had more of an impact either way. But it served as a perfect example of one of the major questions about the new rule: Will pitchers be impacted by needing to speed up in order to avoid an infraction? Will the presence of the clock occasionally become a real factor?

"I thought up to that point ... it didn't really enter the game," Guardians manager Terry Francona told reporters , speaking of the new rules in place. "I think James, it was getting loud. He was having trouble hearing. I thought [catcher Mike Zunino] did a good job of going out there. And, again, I don't know if it's the clock or the situation or just it's cold, but it was noisy. The atmosphere really got more alive in that inning."

This is the new baseball world. The goal is to shorten games by, potentially, around 20 minutes. But there are things to work through in terms of how the pitch clock is operated. For example, one question is exactly when does it start after certain plays? What if a pitcher backs up third base, which is a routine play all the way down to Little League? Depending on when the clock starts, pitchers won't want to lose any allotted time to deliver the ball.

Regardless of it all, as MLB tries to speed up the pace of games, it'll no doubt remain a storyline of 2023. Whether it played a role in the eighth inning unraveling on Karinchak, it didn't take long to come to the forefront.

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians pitcher James Karinchak penalized for MLB pitch clock rule