Marcus Stroman is a great pitcher, but he’s also one of those guys who has a way of rubbing other people the wrong way.
Case in point: Tuesday night, when the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 10-3 at Rogers Center.
In the third inning, Stroman loaded the bases with one out but struck out Mitch Moreland and Xander Bogaerts in order to escape the jam. After punching out Bogaerts, Stroman screamed and shimmied toward the Red Sox dugout. Then, in the fourth, Stroman quick-pitched Michael Chavis, who had words for the Blue Jays pitcher after reaching first base on an error. Chris Sale and Alex Cora then yelled from the Red Sox dugout, Stroman reacted and people got a little annoyed.
The benches never cleared, but it was a thing nevertheless.
“Don’t know (what Sale said), could care less,” Stroman said after the game, via Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith. “That was between me and (Chavis). That’s it. I could care less what anybody else says.”
Whereas Stroman was unwilling to go into details during the postgame, Cora was a bit more forthright.
Here’s what the Red Sox manager said about Stroman, via Baseball Toronto’s Keegan Matheson:
From last night: #RedSox manager Alex Cora on #BlueJays starter Marcus Stroman and the disagreement in the 4th inning (which Stroman said was between he and Michael Chavis)… pic.twitter.com/S4Ig0uSEWi
— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) May 22, 2019
Evidently irked by Cora’s remarks, Stroman took to social media Wednesday morning to defend himself, while also throwing shade at Boston’s manager. Clearly, there’s no love lost between him and the Red Sox.
The energetic right-hander made the loudest statement with his arm, as his six innings of one-run ball were key in Toronto’s victory. The Blue Jays and Red Sox will meet Wednesday night for Game 3 of their four-game set.
