San Francisco Giants pitcher Carlos Rodon lost his temper in the dugout during Tuesday’s game, but he took his frustration out in a way that almost got a teammate hurt.
Rodon was frustrated coming off the field following the bottom of the fifth inning against Arizona. As he entered the dugout, he furiously kicked a bat that was leaning against the dugout seating. The bat went flying and struck teammate Thairo Estrada in the knee, sending the infielder to the ground.
Carlos Rodón furiously kicked a bat which hit Thairo Estrada in the leg 😳 pic.twitter.com/8XXIe2iJtG
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 27, 2022
Rodon apologized after the game, condemning his actions as “stupid” and “selfish.”
Carlos Rodón: “Unacceptable action. I hit a teammate — probably the nicest teammate on our team. Just a selfish action that is unacceptable and cannot happen and I take every amount of it. It cannot happen. I just feel stupid.”
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) July 27, 2022
Rodon wound up taking the loss despite giving up just three hits in six innings and striking out ten. Unfortunately for him, two of the three hits were home runs, accounting for five earned runs. Estrada, meanwhile, did stay in the game for the duration.
Props on Rodon for being upfront about it, but he really wasn’t thinking there. He kicked the bat down the dugout toward where the rest of his teammates were milling about. The chances of the bat hitting someone were pretty high at that point, and however frustrated he may have been, he probably should have known that.
In the future, Rodon may want to stick to destroying inanimate objects like this pitcher did. It may be more expensive, but nobody gets hurt that way.
