The Red Sox won the middle contest of their three-game series against the Orioles in Baltimore, but Tuesday was an otherwise difficult night at the office for several members of Boston’s bullpen.
WEEI’s Rob Bradford reported Tuesday night, after Boston’s 8-6 victory, that many Red Sox relievers weren’t happy with security near the visitors’ bullpen at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
“A few pitchers were sprayed by beer, with one Red Sox being spat on,” Bradford wrote in a tweet. “More than a few called it the worst they had ever seen.”
Red Sox reliever Richard Bleier, who pitched parts of four seasons with Baltimore from 2017 to 2020, expounded upon the scene before Wednesday’s series finale, voicing his displeasure with the two alleged incidents that involved separate individuals.
“Completely inappropriate,” Bleier told The Boston Globe’s Julian McWilliams. “I played here and that’s not the fan base I remember. It was something I’ve never seen before.”
Tuesday’s attendance was listed at 14,343. So, of course, we’re talking about a few bad eggs. But the location of the bullpens in Baltimore definitely makes it easy for fans to heckle opposing players. And the folks in question evidently took things to another level.
“It’s unfortunate, for sure,” Bleier said, according to McWilliams. “Hopefully they’re doing things that prevent this from happening again. It’s definitely not acceptable.”
The Orioles are in the midst of a resurgence, going 15-8 in their first 23 games thanks to an exciting young core. This season, they could push for their first playoff berth since 2016, at which point there might be some packed houses in Baltimore. But hopefully Tuesday night’s chaos turns out to be an unfortunate one-off occurrence.
