The benches cleared in Baltimore Sunday during the eighth inning of the Oakland A’s 11-1 blowout win over the Orioles after an bat-throwing incident involving Manny Machado.
Machado got into it with A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson on Friday night after being tagged out. Machado didn’t like the tag applied by Donaldson when he was trying to advance from second to third, and he got in Donaldson’s face after being being pushed to the ground. Orioles pitcher Wei-Yin Chen seemingly retaliated by hitging Donaldson.
Fast forward to Sunday when Oakland was up 10-0 in the eighth. The A’s decided to get even with Machado for Friday and more perceived disrespect on Sunday. Lefty Fernando Abad threw at Machado on the first two pitches of his at-bat in the eighth. Machado and Abad exchanged words after the first pitch, and Manny swung at the second and let his bat fly towards third base where it didn’t land far from Alberto Callaspo.
“It slipped out of my hands,” said Machado after the game. “Umpire thought it was intentional, so at that point I guess you have to toss the pitcher and the hitter at the same time.”
Not only were the A’s upset over Friday’s incident, but Machado angered them by hitting catcher Derek Norris in the head on two occasions with his backswing and showing little remorse. The second occasion led Norris to leave the game in the sixth.
I really like Machado’s talent as a player, but his behavior has been pretty stupid lately. He had no reason to get upset with Donaldson for what was an ordinary tag on Friday. Then he hits Norris and shows no remorse, and then he throws his bat at Oakland? What the heck is wrong with him? That’s some bush league stuff right there.
