Friday night saw tempers flare between a pair of AL West division rivals, and now Jeff Banister is fanning the flames a little bit.
During the Los Angeles Angels 6-0 win over the Texas Rangers in their series opener, Rangers infielder Rougned Odor spiked Angels counterpart Andrelton Simmons as he tried to break up a double play with a slide on the final play of the game. Odor’s slide seemed intentional, or at the very least reckless, and Simmons had some words for him, which led to both benches emptying.
That was a DIRTY move Odor! You can’t hide from instant replay.
Rangers Odor seemed to purposely turn his ankle to point his cleats directly into Andrelton Simmons’ shin. pic.twitter.com/0JOCcutI0O
— cindy (@shohei_fan17) June 2, 2018
The two teams would meet again on Saturday, and before the game, Banister, the Rangers manager, was asked about the incident. Banister replied that the Angels had no reason to still be mad and referenced a play back in April when Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus fractured his elbow on a hit-by-pitch from Angels reliever Keynan Middleton and missed several weeks. Here is what Banister had to say, per Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
Jeff Banister says Angels shouldn't still be mad about Andrelton Simmons getting spiked by Rougned Odor. "Our shortstop's getting better, though," Banister said, referencing #Rangers' non-reaction after Elvis Andrus was hit by an Angels pitch April 13 that broke his elbow.
— Jeff Wilson (@JeffWilson_FWST) June 2, 2018
The bad blood between the two sides here is obvious. But Banister is equating a seemingly unintentional hit-by-pitch (a fairly common occurrence in baseball) with a very likely deliberate action by Odor, which is problematic.
In any case though, the Rangers and Angels had history even prior to the Andrus incident, and it is clear that there is zero love lost between them.
