BOSTON — Mike Carp saw just one at-bat in Friday’s game. It was enough for him to reach his boiling point.
Carp pinch-hit for Will Middlebrooks with two outs in the seventh inning. The Red Sox were trailing 7-3 at the time, but they had already plated two runs in the inning and were threatening for more. The rally came to an abrupt halt, though, as Carp struck out looking in what was a frustrating sequence for the slugger.
Carp thought he had loaded the bases when a 1-2 slider appeared to hit him in the foot. He headed toward first base while Mike Napoli and Jarrod Saltalamacchia prepared to advance a station each. The umpires came together, however, and determined that the ball hit the dirt rather than Carp’s foot. That generated an argument from both Carp and manager John Farrell.
Two pitches later, Carp struck out to end the inning and the threat. Following Bill Welke‘s called third strike, Carp went off on the home plate umpire. He slammed his helmet in disgust and got in Welke’s face before being restrained. As you might have guessed, he was subsequently ejected.
“Two calls in one at-bat. It cannot happen in a big league ballgame,” Carp said. “We’ve got the bases loaded right there. One swing of the bat changes the whole outlook of the game. It’s what we fight to do as a team. We fight to extend innings. I extended the inning twice, [but] it didn’t work out so well and we couldn’t capitalize on a good situation.”
The Red Sox made some more noise in the eighth and ninth innings, but they came up empty-handed in both instances. The Yankees, meanwhile, tacked on three more runs to secure a 10-3 win.
There’s no telling what would have happened if Carp reached and loaded the bases for the top of the Red Sox’ order in that seventh inning. The possibilities were enough to get Carp hot under the collar, though, and we saw a rare display of raw emotion from him as a result.
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