The Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles continued their feud Tuesday night at Fenway Park.
Red Sox ace Chris Sale fired a 98-mph fastball behind the back of Orioles third baseman Manny Machado during the first inning of Boston’s 5-2 win at Fenway Park.
Umpires immediately issued warnings to both sides, and Sale struck out Machado to end the inning.
Machado was not pleased and expressed his displeasure with Sale and the Red Sox in a postgame rant.
Sale, for his part, wasn’t too concerned about Machado’s feelings.
“That’s part of it man,” Sale said, as seen on “Red Sox Extra-Innings Live.” “I can’t speak to what he said. I’m not too worried about it. Whatever man, I’m not losing sleep (Tuesday night).”
This comes one game after Orioles starter Dylan Bundy plunked Mookie Betts with a fastball, leading to the assumption that Sale could have been protecting his teammate Tuesday night.
And Orioles star Adam Jones certainly believes that was the case.
“I know him (Sale),” Jones said, per CSNNE’s Mike Giardi. “One thing I know about him is he’s going to protect his players.”
Here are more notes from Red Sox-Orioles.
— Sale has dominated opposing lineups the first time through the order this season. Sale has struck out 25-0f-54 batters (46. 3 percent) and allowed just six hits to opponents during their first at-bats.
— Sale also joined Pedro Martinez as the only Red Sox pitcher to record 10 or more strikeouts in five consecutive starts.
— The Red Sox ace now has 63 strikeouts through his first six starts, which ties Randy Johnson for the most strikeouts in a pitcher’s first six starts with a team. Johnson set the mark in 1999 with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
— Hanley Ramirez has hit five home runs during his eight-game hitting streak. The Red Sox designated hitter is hitting .379 over that span with four of his home runs traveling more than 440 feet.
— Mitch Moreland now has 13 doubles through 26 games, which is tied for the second-most in Red Sox history, trailing George Kell’s 14 in 1953.
— Kyle Kendrick will start for the Red Sox on Thursday in place of the injured Steven Wright, who went to the 10-day disabled list Tuesday with a sprained left knee.
— Brian Johnson tossed eight innings and allowed only one run in Triple-A Pawtucket on Tuesday. The PawSox beat Syracuse 3-1.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
