The Pittsburgh Pirates’ little stunt on Monday is not going unpunished.
In the seventh inning of Pittsburgh’s loss to the San Diego Padres, Pirates relief pitcher Angel Perdomo gave up a solo homer to Padres slugger Juan Soto. The blast gave San Diego a 3-1 lead, essentially shutting the door on Pittsburgh.
Juan Soto. That's it. That's the tweet. #BringTheGold pic.twitter.com/TCWzR0JK1X
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) July 26, 2023
Not coincidentally, Perdomo proceeded to hit the very next batter, Manny Machado, with the very next pitch. Perdomo plunked Machado with a 98 mph fastball to the back and was promptly ejected from the game.
Manny Machado is hit with a fastball in the back after Juan Soto homered off of Angel Perdomo
Umpires have ejected Perdomo pic.twitter.com/D6W6xuoxfy
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 26, 2023
After the game, both Machado and Soto called out Perdomo and the Pirates. The former said that Perdomo lacked “respect,” and the latter called on Perdomo to pitch better if he didn’t want to give up home runs.
Padres stars on Angel Perdomo hitting Machado after Soto's homer.
Machado: "You give up a bomb like that I would be mad too… I guess people don't respect people anymore."
Soto: "We got pitchers that throw hard too… If you don't want to give up homers strike out people." pic.twitter.com/Tmll1wojVo
— Darnay Tripp (@DarnayTripp) July 26, 2023
Major League Baseball apparently agreed with the Padres. They announced Wednesday that Perdomo has been suspended for three games and fined an undisclosed amount for beaning Machado. Pirates manager Derek Shelton was also suspended for one game and fined, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.
While it is not surprising that the Pirates were punished for the incident, it was a bit surprising that Machado managed to keep his cool there (as he has beefed with opponents for much less before). But as a result, only Pittsburgh will have to deal with the fallout (with Shelton missing Wednesday’s series finale and Perdomo suspended until July 30 against Philadelphia).
