Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred encouraged by mound-visit rules

Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday he’s encouraged by pace-of-play changes that have limited mound visits and reduced the time between innings at major-league games this season.

Speaking in Toronto before the Blue Jays hosted the Red Sox, Manfred said the new rules have sped up games without any disruption.

“Whenever you change a rule in baseball, people predict all sorts of dire outcomes, and we have avoided even the smallest of incidents related either to the mound-visit rule or the shorter inning breaks,” Manfred said.

“Secondly, I’m positive about them because they’ve been effective.