Philadelphia Phillies Adjust Nicely To First Game With Pitch Clock

The Philadelphia Phillies passed their first test with MLB's new pitch clock rules on Saturday against the New York Yankees.

There were some issues throughout the Grapefruit League and Cactus League with the newly-installed pitch clock and other assorted rules.

Not with the Philadelphia Phillies.

In their 7-4 win Saturday over the New York Yankees in Clearwater, Fla., the Phillies adjusted nicely in the quick game which lasted 2 hours, 34 minutes.

Each pitcher has 15 seconds to throw the ball with the bases empty or 20 seconds with the bases occupied. Each hitter must be in the batter’s box and facing the pitcher with no less than eight seconds remaining.

“I think it's something that's going to be an adjustment for a lot of us because there's still, I don't want to say gray area, but there's still things we didn't get to see during live BPs, like fouling a ball off the catcher's facemask," Phillies infielder Josh Harrison told reporters. "We're up there ready to hit but we don't realize sometimes they have a malfunction.

"You're gonna have some things within reason like a long foul ball, outfielder just ran. In live BP, we're back in the box, but it's like, oh we have to wait on this guy. ... All things that I'm not worried about, I'm just going to go out there and compete and as you continue to get into games, you'll get that feel for the timing of how much time in between pitches.”

The adjustments won’t happen overnight.

All the Phillies can keep doing on a daily basis is preparing.

"It went great, it seems like both teams have done some work on this," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "Quick game. It was 2 hours, 34 minutes and the first three innings took an hour. That felt normal, then it really sped up after that. We'll get used to it."

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