New home plate ump

Home plate umpire Derryl Cousins left the game after the third inning because of an injury suffered when he was hit in the chest with a foul ball.

Tim McClelland moved from first to behind the plate.


This might be nothing or it might be everything.

Cousins has a notoriously small strike zone, one that bothered Scott Kazmir in a game in Anaheim earlier this season.

Kazmir felt he was squeezed by Cousins, and Rays manager Joe Maddon was tossed in the seventh inning for arguing on Kazmir’s behalf.

Rays starter James Shields has been in and out of the strike zone for the first three innings. He walked three batters in the third inning as the Red Sox scored once to take the lead.

After a 15-minute delay, the umpires returned to the field. Shields took the mound and looked much sharper.

Was it the rest?

Or the new home plate umpire?

Hmmm.