Boston Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes might have tried to exact a pound of flesh during Sunday’s 6-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.
Barnes threw a fastball that sailed past the head of Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, whose late slide Friday night injured Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia, and the reliever promptly was ejected.
The Red Sox second baseman could be seen telling Machado that he had nothing to do with the high pitch, but Orioles closer Zach Britton believes that says worlds about Pedroia’s leadership.
“Dustin, him telling Manny, ‘Hey, that didn’t come from me,’ may be even more frustrating,” Britton told Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com. “Because he’s the leader of that clubhouse, and if he can’t control his own teammates, then there’s a bigger issue over there.”
Pedroia reiterated after the game that he didn’t order the pitch to be thrown, and he apologized to Machado. But Britton isn’t buying the All-Star’s explanation, saying things wouldn’t happen like that in the Orioles’ clubhouse.
“As a player that doesn’t have the most service time in this room, when a guy like Adam Jones tells me to do something or not to do something, I’m going to do (what he says). Same with Chris Davis or Darren O’Day, the guy in my bullpen,” Britton said. “If they tell me, ‘Don’t do this or that,’ I’m going to listen to them because they’ve been around the game and they’ve seen things I haven’t seen. And you respect their leadership.”
As for the next time the Red Sox and Orioles meet, Britton said the O’s would let the Sox decide how it plays out.
“I think we’ve talked about it already, as a team, and we’ll see how they choose to act — whether or not they choose to act professionally or unprofessionally when we get to Boston,” Britton said.
The teams will meet for a three-game series at Fenway Park beginning May 1.
Thumbnail photo via Patrick McDermott/USA TODAY Sports Images
