For Boston Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts, it felt good to finally let all the frustration he’s been feeling out.
But it also came at the Red Sox’s expense.
Bogaerts got ejected from Friday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards in the top of the fourth inning after arguing a called third strike — the pitch came in near the bottom of the strike zone — from home plate umpire Todd Tichenor. Bogaerts slammed his bat down following the call before barking at Tichenor, which got him tossed from the contest.
It’s been an aggravating month for Bogaerts at the plate with the All-Star batting .224 in August, and it got to a point where everything boiled over.
“Just a lot of frustration with the way I’m playing and not being able to help to the capacity that I know I’m capable of and that I would want to,” Bogaerts told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “As I said, I just kind of lost it there for a minute. It felt pretty OK just letting everything out. Sometimes you feel like you have a lot of stuff boiled up. I’m not the guy to come in and throw my helmet down, or hit my bat, break it against the bat rack or stuff like that.
“I wasn’t expecting to do this tonight, but I actually feel better. I’m sorry it was on the umpire. I’m sorry it was to him. And I also let my team down coming out of the game. But with all that I’m going through it kind of felt good afterward.”
Red Sox manager Alex Cora sprinted out of the dugout to try to stop Bogaerts from getting tossed, but he didn’t get there in time. Cora then showed his own emotions, giving Estabrook a complete earful.
Cora didn’t hold back following Boston’s 15-10 loss, either, as he still vehemently disagreed with the call.
“It was a ball. At the end of the day it was ball,” Cora told reporters as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “I’m going to get fined, whatever. But it was a ball.”
While Cora has outbursts from time to time — really in an effort to protect his players — it was an uncharacteristic show of emotion from Bogaerts. It was just the second ejection of his career, according to MLB.com’s Ian Browne.
“Who would have known a pitched call would have made me like that,” Bogaerts said. “I’ve been very not pleased with the way I’ve been playing, and it’s definitely frustrating when you hold yourself to a high standard and you feel like you’re not helping out. It’s very rough.”
Bogaerts said he has felt this way before at certain times in his career and he’s made his way through those low points when they’ve been thrown at him. Now, he has to do so again.
“Oh yeah, plenty. And you know what, I’ve came out of all of them,” Bogaerts said. “The only thing now, is now is the time you’re going through it again. When you come out of it you look back and you’ll probably laugh. I got to figure this out quickly. That’s the only one thing that you’ll always hit your head against the wall.”
