Reds fans' hilarious new tradition is sure to make opposing pitchers barking mad

The calendar has flipped to April, but the Cincinnati Reds fanbase still has a case of March Madness. What began a playful troll over the weekend when San Francisco Giants' starter Robbie Ray was on the mound has turned into (what appears to be) a new tradition at Great American Ball Park.

Ray was rolling through the first five innings on Sunday against the Reds. The Giants' left-hander was pitching a perfect game until Gavin Lux reached safely to lead off the sixth inning. After a ground out off the bat of Blake Dunn that advanced Lux to second, Austin Wynns stepped into the batters' box. That's when it all came off the rails for Ray.

Wynns fell behind 1-2, but a pitch timer violation cost Ray and ran the count to 2-2. That seemed to bother San Fran's starter, and the Reds' catcher sent the next pitch he saw into the left field bleachers. Wynns' two-run blast cut the Giants' lead in half. San Francisco led at the point 4-2.

Reds fans' hilarious new tradition is sure to make opposing pitchers barking mad

That home run lit a fire under the Reds' lineup and the next batter, Matt McLain, made it back-to-back jacks and cut the Giants' lead to just one run. Ray was obviously flustered, as the pitch clock got dangerously close to expiring once again. The Reds fans in attendance noticed this and pounced.

Every time the pitch timer got below five seconds, the Reds' fans at Great American Ball Park began counting down...5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The Cincinnati faithful smelled blood in the water and began to mercilessly count down the pitch timer each time the Giants' southpaw received the ball from the catcher. It became evident that the Reds fans were in Ray's head — so much so that he walked the next batter on four pitches and was pulled from the game.

But this wasn't a one-off. While the Reds fans didn't have much to cheer about on Tuesday night, Cincy's late-game rally brought some energy back into the stadium. Nathan Eovaldi, who'd been cruising all night long, heard the countdown in the ninth inning...5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The fans were even ahead of the pitch timer, trying to bluff Eovladi into thinking he had less time to actually deliver the pitch.

This seems to be a new thing that won't be easy to dissuade. If fans think for one second that a minor thing like counting down the pitch timer has even the slightest effect on the opposing pitcher, they're going to do it. This new tradition will not be popular with the opposing pitchers, and it'll be interesting to see if the trend catches on at other ballparks across the major leagues.

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