Manny Machado calls Jonathan Papelbon a ‘coward’ after being hit

Manny Machado played the role of hero Wednesday night when he blasted a two-run homer in the seventh inning to give the Baltimore Orioles a 4-3 lead — one they would not relinquish — over the Washington Nationals. Two innings later, Jonathan Papelbon made Machado pay the price.

And Manny was steaming.

Papelbon was ejected in the ninth after he hit Machado in the arm with a fastball. He started the at-bat with a pitch around Machado’s face before throwing a curveball and then hitting him.

“Pitchers out there, the ball can slip out of your hand, but when you throw at the head on first pitch right from the get-go, then you throw a curveball and then you throw again at the head … it’s coward stuff,” Machado said, per Eduardo A. Encina of The Baltimore Sun. “It’s just cowardly.”

The disappointing Nationals are 6.5 games back in the NL East and and 10.5 back in the Wild Card race with 11 games remaining. The Orioles, however, have an outside shot of sneaking into the playoffs, as they currently trail by four games in the AL Wild Card hunt.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who sprinted out of the dugout to stop Machado from getting into a fight, was convinced Papelbon hit the O’s star intentionally. Papelbon didn’t deny it, and even Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper was hesitant to grab his teammate’s back.

“I mean, Manny freaking hit a homer,” Harper said, according to The Associated Press. “Walked it off, and somebody drilled him. I mean, it’s pretty tired. It’s one of those situations where it happens, and, I don’t know, I’ll probably get drilled tomorrow.”

The Orioles and Nationals have a budding rivalry, but Baltimore needs to be careful. They can’t afford any suspensions, whereas Washington doesn’t have much to lose. As we were reminded with his recent comments about his former team, Papelbon loves stirring the pot. Showalter needs to make sure his team doesn’t get caught up in it.