The benches and bullpens emptied Friday night at Camden Yards after Baltimore Orioles outfielder Blaze Alexander took a hard slide into second base during an eighth-inning double play against the Boston Red Sox.
With Boston leading 1-0, Alexander was on first when Luis Robert Jr. grounded to shortstop Trevor Story. Second baseman Nick Sogard took the flip and completed the double play at first. Replays showed Alexander sliding aggressively past the bag without making contact with Sogard.
Alexander said he started the war of words after noticing stares.
“I thought, clean slide into the bag, and just getting stared at,” he said, via ESPN. “Wanted to know why I’m getting stared at.”
Sogard had no issue with the slide itself.
“I was just looking back to see how far he went. I don’t know if he liked me looking back,” he said.
Both clubs rushed the field. Alexander motioned for the crowd to make more noise. No one was ejected.
Alexander admitted he hoped the moment would spark a late rally with Aroldis Chapman entering.
“Get the crowd going a little bit. You never know. You score two there, we win, and it looks real good,” he said.
Chapman notched his 399th career save as Boston won, 1-0, dropping Baltimore to its fourth consecutive loss and three games behind Cleveland for the final AL wild-card berth.
