The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles might have gotten a stern talking to from Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred before Wednesday’s game, but that didn’t do anything to squelch the war of words between the two teams.
Orioles general manager and former Red Sox GM Dan Duquette spoke before Wednesday’s game at Fenway Park on the growing feud between the two clubs, and he wasn’t shy about where the blame should fall.
“We play the game hard every night,” Duquette said, per the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli. “We play to compete and to win. But I’m going to say this. Two years ago, Â when their third baseman (Pablo Sandoval) ran into (Jonathan) Schoop at second base, we lost Schoop for an extended period of time. ”
“Our guys didn’t go out and hit the best Red Sox hitters. We don’t play that way. The organization doesn’t encourage that and Buck (Showalter) doesn’t allow that and that’s the right way to play baseball.”
This comes one day after Red Sox ace Chris Sale threw a 98-mph fastball behind the back of Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, which led to a furious postgame rant from star infielder.
The bad blood began April 21 when Machado spiked Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia. Two days later, Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes threw a pitch near the head of Machado and subsequently was ejected. Barnes received a four-game suspension for the incident.
Orioles starter Dylan Bundy then drilled Mookie Betts with a fastball during Monday’s game, and it appeared Sale was protecting his teammate during Tuesday’s game.
Orioles starter Kevin Gausman was ejected during the second inning of Wednesday night’s game after he his Xander Bogaerts with a breaking ball.
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
