The bad blood between the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles is far from becoming a thing of the past, and Chris Sale made that clear early in Tuesday night’s game.
Sale, who is known for having pinpoint accuracy, threw a 97-mph fastball behind Manny Machado’s legs in the first inning.
Chris Sale, "inside" 98mph Fastball to Machado. pic.twitter.com/zcDEWdlcuj
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 2, 2017
Both sides were immediately warned by the home plate umpire, and Machado could be heard hurling a few curse words toward Boston’s dugout.
Ironically, Sale showed some class one batter prior when he stepped off the mound so Adam Jones could receive a prolonged ovation from Red Sox fans. Jones said he was taunted with racial slurs from fans at Fenway Park the night before.
The rivalry between the Red Sox and Orioles is really starting to heat up. In their previous series, Machado slid hard into Dustin Pedroia and injured the second baseman’s ankle. Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes seemingly retaliated by throwing a pitch near Machado’s head two games later, and Pedroia actually grabbed Machado’s back in an incredibly bizarre sequence of events.
On Monday, Machado took an extremely slow trot around the bases after he blasted a solo home run. He later said there was nothing deliberate about it, but we can probably assume Sale wasn’t buying that.
