Randal Grichuk doesn’t think Hansel Robles intentionally tried to hit him.
Those two were at the center of a quasi-benches-clearing incident Friday night as the Toronto Blue Jays put up a nine-spot on the Boston Red Sox in the fifth inning.
Robles, whom the Red Sox acquired at the trade deadline last week, threw a pitch that got away from him and drilled the Blue Jays outfielder. The Blue Jays didn’t like it, and started barking at the Sox reliever from the dugout.
Alex Cora came out to defend Robles, and it looked for a minute like there might be a fracas.
Things died down though, and Grichuk ultimately believes there was no ill intent from Robles.
“You could read it one of two ways,” Grichuk said after the game, via SportsNet. “I didn’t read it that way. If you look at the inning, nobody pimped anything. Nobody did anything crazy or anything disrespectful to their team or him on the mound.
“They reassured me it wasn’t intentional and off the bat I didn’t think it was.”
There are three more contests left in the four-game set, including a double-header Saturday on NESN, so we’ll see if any bad blood lingers into the remaining game.
