It’s a Friday night in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Boston Red Sox are in town to play the Orioles. In the bottom of the 8th inning, Mark Trumbo hits a routine chopper to shortstop, where Xander Bogaerts gathers the ball and throws to second in what seems to be the beginning of an easy double play. However, the throw forced second baseman Dustin Pedroia to reach back across the bag, and as he caught the ball, Manny Machado slid into the bag and into Pedroia, bringing Pedroia down to the ground and ultimately out of the game with an injury. This proved to be the beginning of a prolonged, unnecessary feud between the Red Sox and Orioles that carried on from the last week of April until the first week of May.
When the slide took place, I was actually in the car and not home, so I found out through Twitter thanks to the many reporters and bloggers I follow. I follow plenty of people on the Orioles side, but I also follow quite a few Red Sox beat reporters because I enjoy following people from every team. From the way Boston reporters described the situation, you’d have thought Machado pull a Chase Utley slide, clearly sliding away from the bag or going in viciously with the pure intention of hitting a player. With Machado’s history of run-ins with teams, like against Oakland or Kansas City, I had thoughts of “What did he do now?” When I got home and finally saw the slide on Quick Pitch, I couldn’t stop laughing.
If slowed down on the replay, one can see Machado begin his slide before the second base bag even enters the screen, showing it wasn’t a late slide. As Machado reached the bag, his foot popped up and unfortunately landed on Pedroia’s leg. When his foot did reach Pedroia’s leg, Machado can be seen immediately reaching for Pedroia and grabbing him trying to prevent him from falling. To the Red Sox, however, it was seen as an intentional effort to slide into their captain. Interestingly enough, Pedroia didn’t have an issue with the slide.
“I don’t have an issue with anything. My job is to play baseball and win,” Pedroia said. “This isn’t seventh grade, man. I just play baseball. I’m not the baseball police, man.”
Machado said he texted Pedroia after the game to check in on him, and if were up to them two, things would have been over then. Unfortunately, manager John Farrell and the Red Sox had other ideas.
Many assumed there would be retaliation at some point, as that’s how the unwritten rules of baseball work. You hurt one team’s best player, they’ll hit yours. It’s not rare around the league, and while it’s not smart, it happens fairly often. Had Machado been hit on Saturday in the butt, both teams would have moved on. However, knuckle-ball pitcher Steven Wright didn’t hit Machado on Saturday, because getting hit by a knuckle-ball would be like getting hit by a fly, so the Red Sox waited until Sunday. Eduardo Rodriguez threw three consecutive fastballs at Machado’s knees, but he couldn’t hit him. Then, as the Red Sox lead 6-0 in the 8th inning, the hard-throwing right hander Matt Barnes entered the game. On his first pitch to Machado, Barnes threw a 90 mph pitch that buzzed behind Machado’s head actually hitting his bat for a foul ball. Umpire Andy Fletcher ejected Barnes, which brought out both managers.
While the umpires tried to handle the situation, television cameras caught Pedroia and Machado conversing across the field. Pedroia yelled something along the lines of “That wasn’t me, that’s them. If it were me, we would have done it the first day,” seemingly referring to the pitch being sent from someone else on the team, not him. Machado responded with gestures saying the pitch shouldn’t have been towards his head. Again, the two actually involved in the original slide wanted to move on.
Fast forward a week, and the Orioles payed the Red Sox a visit in Boston. Tensions were so high that ESPN picked up the Monday night game for its network, as they clearly expected more drama. They certainly weren’t wrong. Machado came to the plate among a chorus of boos from the Fenway Park faithful, and he responded with a solo home run to put the Orioles on top 2-0 in the 6th inning. In the bottom of that same inning, Dylan Bundy hit Mookie Betts in the hip, instantly creating reaction from Boston reporters hailing the pitch as retaliation for Machado being thrown at. That would seem to make sense unless you have common sense.
Why would Dylan Bundy bring the tying run to the plate in the 6th inning in the form of Hanley Ramirez, the most prolific home run hitter on the Red Sox? This was a game the Orioles really wanted to win after a wacky series in New York in which they lost two out of three games. Not only did the situation signal as non-intentional, so did the at-bat when Betts was hit. The at-bat began with a fastball for a strike, another fastball that came in on Betts and then a slider outside for a ball. The count was two balls and one strike when Bundy hit Betts. Bundy, who had four walks in the game, clearly was trying to mix things up against Betts, who has absolutely killed the Orioles when he plays them. To Boston, it was intentional.
Nothing was made of the pitch on Monday night because instead of that being the focus, even more drama came into the picture. Orioles center-fielder Adam Jones reported that he heard racial slurs targeted at him during the game from Boston fans. This drew apologies from the governor of Massachusetts, the mayor of Boston, and the president of the Red Sox met with Jones the following day to personally apologize on behalf of the Red Sox. Even Mookie Betts himself tweeted in defense of Jones, calling for Boston to give Jones a standing ovation, and they listened. Before his first at-bat, Jones received a standing ovation from the Fenway faithful showing their support of him and opposition to the racism shown on the night before.
It was a lovely moment, and for about five minutes everyone thought wounds were healed between the two teams and that everyone had moved on from the earlier feud. People were very, very wrong. Just three pitches after the standing ovation for Jones, Red Sox ace Chris Sale threw a 98 mph fastball behind Machado’s knees. Both teams were warned, and it was extremely clear what the intent of that pitch was. It didn’t slip out of his hands like Farrell said, and it was no coincidence. Chris Sale struck out 11 Orioles and was nearly un-hittable throughout the game. He has an ERA of 1.38 and is arguably the best pitcher in the league. He has pinpoint command, and the ball doesn’t just slip out of his hand very often.
Credit: Christopher Evans
Machado once again responded with a home run in the 7th inning, followed by the second slowest home run trot in his career according to Statcast(Yes, that’s recorded now). Again, some saw this slow trot as a big deal, but of all teams in the league, the Boston Red Sox shouldn’t be complaining about slow home run trots because the now retired David Ortiz might still be rounding the bases today. His trots could be recorder with a calendar instead of a stopwatch.
In the 7th inning of a tight game, Andrew Benintendi got out of the way of a fastball that nearly hit him in the helmet. Yet again, Red Sox fans and reporters found something to be upset at. Surely that was intentional! But again, it didn’t add up. The Orioles had just scored a run to make the game 3-2, and they had driven up Sale’s pitch count to possibly get him out of the game. When Benintendi came up to bat, there were runners on first and third with one out, and Donnie Hart had come in earlier in the inning with the purpose of getting left handers, which Benintendi is, out. Would Hart hit Benintendi to load the bases for Betts in a one-run game? Highly doubtful.
The Orioles ended up losing 5-2, but after the game, Machado finally let his emotions out with an expletive filled rant.
“I’ve lost respect for that organization,” Machado said. “They’re still thinking about that same slide that I did that was no intention of hurting anybody. I’m still paying. I’m still trying to get hit at.”
It’s safe to say he wasn’t happy, and he has every reason to be upset. At this point, Machado had five pitches thrown at him with the intention of hitting him. I don’t care who you are, no one wants to have 90 mph fastballs thrown at them. Not only was his slide not intentional, but both he and Pedroia had moved on from the situation. For some reason, the rest of the Red Sox were adamant about throwing at Machado.
Things had gotten so bad that on Wednesday, reports came out that commissioner Rob Manfred held a conference call with the managers and general managers of both teams as well was Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre basically saying “Enough is enough.” It was clear this issue had reached a point where higher forces were forced to intervene. One might think that after such stern warnings both teams would finally get past all their issues. In actuality, both teams seemed to, but things once again got out of hand in Wednesday’s game.
In the bottom of the second inning, Kevin Gausman threw a 77 mph breaking ball that curved back and hit Xander Bogaerts. That’s when umpire Sam Holbroock stepped in front of the plate and promptly ejected Gausman. Immediately, Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph jumped up furiously and Showlater ran out to yell at the umpires. The Orioles had lost their starter in the second inning for a curveball. Holbroock overreacted, and even the Boston reporters, who had defended each and every Red Sox decision up to that point, said the ejection was unwarranted. Why did Gausman get ejected for his curveball while Sale merely got a warning for his 98 mph fastball?
The commissioner did the right thing by stepping in to try and stop the fighting before someone got seriously hurt. Throwing baseballs at players is one of the most dangerous actions in sports. Still, it was clear that Gausman’s pitch was unintentional while the previous five pitches by the Red Sox were intentional. This feud between the Red Sox and Orioles brought out the worst in baseball. It revealed the unwritten rules that some follow religiously, even if it puts people in danger. Looking at all the evidence of very situation, including comments from Pedroia and close looks at when each pitch was thrown, it’s fairly obvious the conflict was brought on by one side. As Machado said, it’s hard to maintain respect for the Boston Red Sox organization. Simply put, their actions were pathetic and petty.
For now, the rivalry is on a break. Don’t miss it too much though, because the Red Sox visit Baltimore the first week of June.
Excelent Article Brian, Congratulations, Well Done!!!