Cubs' Marcus Stroman commits MLB's 1st pitch-clock violation

CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs right-hander Marcus Stroman committed Major League Baseball's first pitch-clock violation in the third inning of Thursday’s opening day game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

With no outs, rookie Brice Turang on second base and Christian Yelich at the plate, plate umpire Ron Kulpa called the violation on Stroman at Wrigley Field. Kulpa pointed to his wrist in announcing the call, and the automatic ball made it a 2-2 count against Yelich.

Cubs-Brewers was the fourth of 15 opening day games to begin Thursday. Early tilts pitting Giants vs. Yankees and Braves vs. Nationals made it into the late innings without any violations.

MLB introduced the pitch clock this season to speed the pace of play. Players have 30 seconds to resume play between batters. Between pitches, pitchers have 15 seconds with nobody on and 20 seconds if there is a baserunner. Batters must be in the box and alert to the pitcher with at least eight seconds on the clock.

When a pitcher fails to throw a pitch in time, the penalty is an automatic ball. When a batter isn’t ready in time, it’s an automatic strike.

San Diego Padres star Manny Machado committed the first pitch-clock violation during spring training. Players were overwhelmingly encouraged by the new rules rollout during the preseason, when the average time of games fell 26 minutes to 2 hours, 35 minutes over the first three weeks.

Other changes this year include bigger bases to improve player safety, plus limits on infield shifts and pitcher disengagements to encourage more action.