Moehler Caught in a Rough Spot

The movement of Brian Moehler’s pitches made the Tampa Bay Devil Rays so suspicious that Manager Larry Rothschild turned detective.

It wasn’t long before he and plate umpire Larry Barnett caught the Detroit Tiger right-hander, who was ejected for having a small piece of sandpaper attached to his left thumb during the seventh inning of Tampa Bay’s 4-3 victory Saturday night.

“He was like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar,” said Barnett, who inspected Moehler’s glove before asking to look at the pitchers hands. “He knew he was caught.”

The ejection, two batters before Randy Winn’s game-winning sacrifice fly, came after Moehler yielded singles to Paul Sorrento and Mike DiFelice with one out in the seventh. Reliever Sean Runyan walked Kevin Stocker before Winn broke a 3-3 tie.

Rothschild went to Barnett at the beginning of the inning to express his concern about Moehler scuffing the ball. But he waited three batters before asking Barnett to check the pitcher.

“I saw the ball moving funny, and a couple of our guys came in and said there’s some funny movement. I checked some of the balls they threw out and you could see it,” Rothschild said.

Barnett asked to see Moehler’s glove. When he didn’t find anything, he asked the pitcher to let him see his left thumb.

“I bent it over and [there was] a piece of sandpaper smaller than a dime,” the umpire said.

Tampa Bay’s Bobby Witt (3-0) gave up four hits in seven innings.