Baltimore Orioles vs. Boston Red Sox
Orioles All-Star closer Zach Britton took issue with Pedroia’s apparent in-game apology to Machado, describing Pedroia’s “it’s not me” message regarding Barnes’s decision as “even more frustrating”.
The incident halted the game for a prolonged period while Boston manager John Farrell argued with the umpires and the two teams glared across the field at each other, but there was no on-field confrontation.
In the eighth inning Sunday, Boston reliever Matt Barnes threw behind Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, presumably in retaliation for a hard slide Friday in which the slugger spiked Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia.
I don’t care if you’re a Red Sox fan, an Orioles fan, or a Manny Machado hater.
“People are going to think what they want, ” Barnes said, and that is probably the only thing he said that anyone can be certain is true.
“I’m going to respect Pedie to the end of this day”, Machado said. If he just slid into the part of the base that I gave him, he’d have been safe. Boston has a off day on Monday, so there seems to be a chance that Pedroia makes his return on Tuesday.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetDSI, the Orioles are -125 money line favorites versus the Red Sox, who have odds of +115 to pull off the upset in Baltimore.
Machado ended up hitting an RBI double. “That’s a mishandled situation”.
“There was zero intention of him trying to hurt me. That’s not how you do that, man”, Pedroia said afterward. “Luckily, my second at-bat, he just left one up that I put a good swing on”. That’s baseball, man. I’m not mad at him.
It was the seventh win in nine games for the Orioles, whose major league-best 11-4 record includes a 9-3 mark in the AL East. Bundy (3-1) struck out three, walked one and allowed six hits in seven-plus innings.
Barnes threw a pitch that sailed at the Orioles third baseman’s head, and the Red Sox pitcher was ejected from the game. “If I wanted to do something, I would have hit you the first time”.
Pedroia, meanwhile, was similarly unhappy but didn’t bother using the rulebook to talk about the play, saying he didn’t care about a rule explicitly created to protect players at his position. “I love watching him”.
Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriquez delivers against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, April 23, 2017, in Baltimore.
Overall, if you go back and look at the play Machado didn’t look like he had any intent to injure Pedroia. Both he and Orioles skipper Buck Showalter are of the old-school variety.