Giants' Sergio Romo ends MLB career with keepsake hat, curtain call — and pitch clock violations

Edward Sutelan

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Giants' Sergio Romo ends MLB career with keepsake hat, curtain call — and pitch clock violations image

Sergio Romo got a warm welcome from Giants fans one last time Monday as he took the mound at Oracle Park in spring training for his final appearance before retiring. But the umpire wasn't going to let the celebration get in the way of pace of play.

Before Romo could even throw his first official pitch to start the top of the seventh inning against the Athletics, he was called for not one, but two pitch clock violations. He took to long too conclude warmups, which resulted in the first.

Then, as the crowd was revving up, he was called for a second, this time for taking too long to throw the first pitch of the at-bat. He walked Conner Capel after throwing just three pitches: two balls and a strike.

“I didn’t expect to walk a hitter on two pitches thrown,” Romo told NBC Sports Bay Area. “It is what it is. They've got a protocol. They’re getting ready for the season too. It was a lot of fun, it really, really was. You talk about being nervous to pitch a game and before tonight, I couldn’t tell you the last time I was nervous to get in the game.”

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Romo was drafted by the Giants in the 28th round of the 2005 MLB Draft and debuted for them in 2008. He immediately became an impact reliever in their bullpen and eventually assumed the closer's role when Brian Wilson had Tommy John surgery to start the 2012 season.

Having already won one World Series with the team in 2010, Romo closed out the Giants' second World Series victory of the decade with a strikeout of Miguel Cabrera in Game 4 of the 2012 World Series. Though he was no longer the closer in 2014, he won a third ring with the team when the Giants beat the Royals.

After the 2016 season, Romo bounced around in the majors, spending time with the Dodgers, Rays, Marlins, Twins, Athletics, Mariners and Blue Jays before re-signing with the Giants in spring training 2023 to officially close out his 15-year MLB career with the team that started it all.

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Throughout spring, each time Romo has been asked for an autograph by a kid, he has asked the kid to sign his hat first. He wore the hat signed by all his young fans when he made his final appearance on Monday.

Romo's curtain call proved to be a special moment for the standout reliever. He entered with his "El Mechon" walk-in, his longtime bullpen entrance song.

After giving up back-to-back hits following his walk to Capel, longtime Giants teammate Hunter Pence came out to call for a reliever and officially close the book on Romo's MLB career.

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Romo ends his MLB career with an All-Star appearance and three World Series rings. The 40-year-old pitched to a 3.21 ERA in 722.2 career innings of work with 789 strikeouts and only 179 walks. He held opposing hitters to just a .216/.271/.360 slash line.

"Very fitting to find some closure in what literally is for me, was a storybook career," Romo said, according to the Associated Press.

Edward Sutelan

Edward Sutelan Photo

Edward Sutelan joined The Sporting News in 2021 after covering high school sports for PennLive. Edward graduated from The Ohio State University in 2019, where he gained experience covering the baseball, football and basketball teams. Edward also spent time working for The Columbus Dispatch and Cape Cod Times.