Tampa Bay Rays' Zach Eflin Forced to Remove Wedding Ring vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

In one of the more bizarre umpire-player interactions in recent memory, Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Zach Eflin was forced to remove his wedding ring by umpires in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday afternoon. You can watch it below.

In one of the more bizarre umpire-player interactions in recent memory, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Zach Eflin was forced to remove his wedding ring in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday.

Recently, we had the Max Scherzer incident, in which the Mets pitcher was ejected for "sticky stuff" and subsequently suspended. 

This didn't reach that level, as Eflin just obliged, but it's still odd to see.

You can watch the interaction below, courtesy of Bally Sports.

.@RaysBaseball righty Zach Eflin had to remove his wedding ring 😔 pic.twitter.com/P1lJdQzzvS

— Bally Sports Sun: Rays (@BallyRays) May 4, 2023

As the broadcasters say, the only thing you can think of is that the ring was in some way able to doctor the baseball. The broadcaster makes note of the ring possibly being used to "cut" the baseball, but then notes that the ring was rubberized, so that wouldn't apply.

I suppose it's theoretically possible for a ring like that to have a substance on it similar to sticky stuff, but that's pure speculation on my part.

Eflin removed the ring and went about his business and at the time of this posting, he and the Rays lead 1-0 in the of the third inning.

Eflin, 29, has thrown two scoreless innings thus far and is currently 3-0 with a 2.74 ERA for the Rays in 23 innings. He spent some time on the injured list but has remained an integral part of the Rays rotation, helping lead them to a league-best 25-6 record entering Thursday.

For his career, he's 39-45 with a 4.43 ERA. He spent the first seven years of his career with the Philadelphia Phillies before signing in Tampa this offseason.

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