So in the bottom of 7th inning of SF-Rays, Cash brings in a lefty reliever (Kolarek) to start the inning. He gives up a base hit to the first batter. Next 3 up are Longoria followed by two LHH. Cash comes out, calls Roe (RHP) in from the pen to face Longoria, sends Kolarek to play 1B, sends Diaz from 1B to 3B and takes third baseman Arroyo out of the game. Roe strikes out Longoria. Cash comes back out, takes out Roe, puts Kolarek back on the mound, sends Diaz back from 3B to 1B, moves Robertson from 2B to 3B and inserts Lowe into the game at 2B. Cash is just kind of showing off at this point, but whatever, it worked, they got out of the inning and won 3-0.
The question I have is why did Kolarek get a full set of warm-up pitches when he got sent back to the mound? This seems ridiculous to me. Granted, I’m anti-warm-up pitches generally and think any pitcher who comes in mid-inning should have to just get on the mound and pitch, but to stop the game for several minutes to let a pitcher who was just pitching off that mound 10 minutes ago warm-up again? It’s crazy.