Spring training is a time to explore the space and value live game reps over the actual final score. Like Whose Line Is It Anyway, everything is made up and the wins/losses don't really matter as long as everyone who is supposed to get some work in sees the field. Throw in the added strangeness of an exhibition between a MLB team and World Baseball Classic participant, and the unexpected was to be expected.
So it's perfectly explainable that a situation arose during Tuesday night's Puerto Rico-Red Sox tilt that saw a Boston pitcher taking the hill and throwing against his team. The footage is still slightly jarring.
Might be one of the weirder sights I've ever seen on a baseball field.
— Tyler Milliken (@tylermilliken_) March 4, 2026
(Red Sox made some players available to help Puerto Rico get through the game. Erik Rivera was also born in Puerto Rico and has played in their Winter League) pic.twitter.com/xhL7IcYH4V
That's Erik Rivera wearing a Red Sox jersey being joined on the mound by the entire Puerto Rico infield and a coach to receive instruction on how to attack Braiden Ward, who is usually his teammate.
The bad news for Rivera is that he faced three batters and didn't record an out. The good news is that he won't face them again this spring as they'll once again be sharing the same dugout.
Puerto Rico ended up winning the game, 5-3. Their plan to preserve a little pitching by using a Red Sox arm didn't yield much of a return.
Still, they avoided injury and head into Friday's opener against Colombia with high hopes of advancing out of Pool A and into the quarterfinals. Puerto Rico can also draw on some WBC success in their past, which includes two trips to the semifinals and a loss to the United States in the 2017 final.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Red Sox Pitcher Filling in for Puerto Rico Creates Strange Meeting on Mound.
