The Orioles earned a win over the AL East rival Red Sox (BAL 2, BOS 0) Friday night, and things between the two clubs got a little testy in the eighth inning.
Manny Machado spiked Dustin Pedroia in the calf while sliding into second base. Here's the video:
The slow motion replay makes it seem Machado's foot hit second base and popped up, catching Pedroia in the calf. Either way, intentional or not, Pedroia had to leave the game, which led to Pablo Sandoval playing second base for an inning.
After the game Pedroia said he wasn't mad about the play, though you could tell that wasn't necessarily the truth. From MLB.com's Jeff Seidel:
"I feel all right; I just got some treatment and stuff, but I'm all right," Pedroia said. "It was the knee I had surgery on in the offseason. I just got caught in a weird position. I don't know what hit the side of my knee. ... It kind of pushed it in a little bit. It was a different feeling. It worries you at first."
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"I don't even know what the rule is," Pedroia said. "I've turned the best double play in the Major Leagues for 11 years. I don't need a ... rule. The rule's irrelevant. The rule's for people with bad footwork."
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"I'm [upset] we lost the game," Pedroia said. "My job is to get taken out and hang in there and turn double plays. That's how you win games. I'm not mad."
Red Sox manager John Farrell was much more blunt about the play, calling it an "extremely late slide."
"Extremely late slide," Farrell said. "The argument at the time was if the rule's in place to protect the middle infielder, well, then it didn't work tonight. I know there's a component to the rule that says he's got to deliberately and willfully attempt a double play. When you're cleaned out beyond second base, and the runner never held second base completely, to me, the rule failed tonight."
I'm inclined to believe Machado did not intentionally spike Pedroia and try to hurt him. I don't think the play was malicious. Machado is a natural middle infielder himself and he knows how dangerous making plays at second base can be.
Machado also knows there's a pretty good chance he'll get a pitch to the ribs at some point this weekend. The Red Sox aren't going to let Pedroia getting spiked slide, even it was accidental. These two teams have had some serious battles in recent years, and it looks we could be in for some more in the coming days.