Pedro Martinez Rips Ned Yost, Says Manager Would Have Been ‘Ugly Goat’ In Loss

The Kansas City Royals are moving on, but it was no thanks to manager Ned Yost.

Kansas City stormed back for an improbable win over the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night in the American League wild card game. It’s likely no one was happier than the Royals’ skipper who made a couple of head-scratching moves.

None was more controversial than Yost’s decision to pull starting pitcher James Shields from the game in the sixth inning. Yost brought in Yordano Ventura — normally a starting pitcher who threw 72 pitches on Sunday — and Ventura allowed a go-ahead three-run home run to Brandon Moss. That led to a five-run inning for the A’s.

Luckily for Yost, the Royals clawed back and tied the game in the ninth before winning in the 12th. Despite the positive outcome, TBS analyst and future Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez didn’t let Yost off the hook. Martinez used the TBS postgame show to rip Yost for his decisions.

“I think this was another panic move from Ned Yost,” Martinez said of the decision to go with Ventura. “He almost gave the game away. If Kansas City ends up losing that game, Ned Yost would have been the ugly goat heading out of Kansas City today.”

Martinez also used Twitter to criticize Yost.

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Martinez does know a thing or two about disastrous playoff managerial decisions. After all, Martinez was at the center of then-Red Sox manager Grady Little’s infamous decision to leave Martinez in the game during Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series. Boston went on to lose that game and Little was fired the next day.