The bad blood that exists between Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista and Baltimore Orioles pitcher Darren O’Day was on display once again on Sunday, with Bautista getting the last laugh this time around.
With the Jays leading 8-7 in the top of the eighth, O’Day threw a fastball up near Bautista’s head. Bautista stared him down before depositing the next pitch into the left field bleachers to give Toronto a 10-7 lead.
“I know he’s not going to blow 87 miles an hour by me, so I figured he was probably going to try to throw more offspeed pitches after moving my feet a little bit with that fastball,” Bautista told reporters after the game, per John Lott of The National Post. “I basically said to myself I’m looking for offspeed. If he throws me a fastball I’m going to go back to the dugout if it’s a strike. I sat on a slider, and he threw it, and luckily for me he threw it right down the middle.”
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the history between the two, here’s a little recap. It started two seasons ago when O’Day struck out Bautista in a big situation and then stared him down. Bautista felt that was disrespectful and said something to O’Day. The next day, Bautista hit a two-run homer off O’Day to help lead the Blue Jays to a 4-2 when. As he was rounding the bases, Bautista let O’Day know that he shouldn’t have opened his mouth the previous day.
“I think this is the only guy that this happens with in the whole league, at least for me,” Bautista said. “I don’t have any history with anybody. The only reason why I have a history with this guy is because on one particular [night], he struck me out and he started yapping at me. After that it’s been a back-and-forth of emotional situations.”
O’Day would probably be wise to stop chirping. While he has struck out Bautista five times, Bautista is now 5-for-15 with five home runs and nine RBI against him. The brush-back pitches are starting to get a little old.
H/T Gregor Chisholm
