When Tampa Bay Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder began to approach the mound in the bottom of the ninth, what should have happened next was black and white.

The Rays were out of mound visits, so by rule Tampa Bay closer Jason Adam had to leave the game.

That eventually did happen, but not until after a 5-10 minute delay that began after Alex Cora noticed the slip-up, pointed it out and engaged in a lengthy and animated discussion with the umpires before a rules check was initiated.

During that time the Rays were able to warm up right-hander Erasmo Ramirez, and following the game the Red Sox manager expressed frustration that Ramirez wasn’t forced to come into the game sooner.

“They messed it up because they had time to warm up Erasmo there in the bullpen. You’ve got to throw him out right away. He comes in, he gets eight pitches and then he goes,” Cora said. “That’s the way the rule should go. By the time I went out there and argued, the rule check, he has time to warm up.”

So why did it take so long to sort everything out? Following the game, crew chief Phil Cuzzi offered an explanation of how the umpires read the situation.

“Basically what happened was Tampa used their fourth and final trip to the mound in the ninth inning. Also in the ninth inning, (Kyle) Snyder the pitching coach attempted to come out for a fifth trip. Had they gone into the ninth inning with zero trips from the eighth inning, they would have received an extra trip. That never came up in the conversation,” Cuzzi told pool reporter Michael Silverman of The Boston Globe. “So basically what happened – the rule is clear, once he crosses the foul line, if they’re out of trips, the pitcher must be removed. We attempted to stop him and he kept walking.

“So at first we said, ‘Ok, he never got to the mound, so here we are in the ninth inning with two outs, he never did speak to his pitcher, so we felt we would let it go,” Cuzzi continued. “But Alex with the Red Sox naturally came out and said ‘No, you saw it, no, no, you know the rule.’ OK, so we said, ‘We know the rule, let’s just get a rules check from New York.’ New York confirmed what we knew and it was very clear that (Kevin) Cash had to come out and change his pitcher which when I told him that, he had absolutely no question about it, he went right to the mound to change pitchers.”

Asked to clarify if the umpires thought it wasn’t a visit because he hadn’t reached the mound, or if they felt there might be some leeway in the situation, Cuzzi said: “The rule is the foul line. We attempted to stop him before the foul line and he kind of just kept walking and we said ‘Ok, he never did speak to his pitcher,’ so we said, ‘Ok, so’ but the rule is clear and we wound up enforcing the rule as it’s written.”

Cuzzi went on to explain that Cora was correct in pointing out the Rays were out of mound visits, but that the lengthy rules check with New York was a product of them trying to make sure the rules were enforced correctly.

“Maybe they were just (trying) to play safe so it did take a little time but fortunately we got the rule correct,” Cuzzi said.

If you were trying to follow the situation inside the ballpark, chances are the whole thing may have seemed a little confusing. It didn’t help that the umpires never offered an explanation over the microphone like they typically do when a call is being reviewed.

Cuzzi’s explanation for that? The Red Sox started blaring “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers during the review.

“I was going to announce it but they started blasting the music, so I said there’s no point,” Cuzzi said. “I was just going to explain to the crowd it’s a rules check but the music was blasting and I couldn’t even hear myself so that’s why I didn’t make an announcement to the crowd.”