The Boston Red Sox decided to come out bunting against CC Sabathia on Thursday night, and saying the New York Yankees pitcher did not agree with the strategy would be an understatement.
In the first inning, Red Sox second baseman Eduardo Nunez reached base by laying down a bunt and forcing an errant throw to first from Sabathia. The next two batters walked to load the bases, but Sabathia got out of the jam. After the lefty retired the side, he screamed toward the Boston dugout to express his discontent over Nunez bunting.
“It’s just kind of weak to me,” Sabathia said after the game, via John Harper of the New York Daily News. “It shows me what they’ve got over there.”
Sabathia, 37, has a bad right knee that has forced him to wear a brace. The brace helps eliminate pain he used to deal with when landing on his right leg, but he’s a big guy who didn’t move around well before the knee problems. He felt the Red Sox were being cowards for trying to take advantage of his lack of mobility.
“I think they just think I’m a bigger guy who can’t field my position, so ‘we’re going to try to bunt instead of swinging the bat,'” Sabathia said. “I mean, they have a really good lineup. I want to go out and compete against them. I just feel like sometimes they don’t want to. … Scared. I mean, let’s go, let’s play. Swing the bat.”
The Red Sox are trying to win the AL East, and they currently have a 4.5-game over the Yankees after New York’s 6-2 win on Thursday. It seems absurd that Sabathia is calling them out for exploiting his weakness in a situation like that. He told reporters that Nunez — a former teammate — apologized before his second at-bat, but Nunez’s take on the situation told a different story.
Núñez on his bunt: “We know he has a bad knee. That’s not our problem.”
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) September 1, 2017
Núñez said his apology was more “I'm sorry, but I have to do it…. If I have to bunt four times, I'd do it. I don't care if he's mad."
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) September 1, 2017
Unfortunately for fans of the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, Sabathia barking at the Boston dugout didn’t lead to any fireworks. He wouldn’t have been worried if they did.
“I don’t give a f— about their reaction,” the former Cy Young Award winner said. “I don’t care what they have to say. I’m out there early every day. If they’ve got something to say, we can meet in center field.”
Sabathia said he doesn’t have any personal issues with anyone on the Red Sox roster, but it’s no secret he has some problems with the city of Boston. He has dominated the Red Sox this season, so perhaps he felt he earned the right to call them out.
