Orioles third baseman Manny Machado apologized Monday for throwing his bat in Sunday's game against the Oakland A's.
"I want to apologize to all my teammates, my coaching staff, the Orioles organization and Oakland, and the fans also, for the way I acted and overreacted on that," the 21-year-old Machado said in a televised interview with Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports. The interview aired at 5 p.m. ET.
"It was a frustrating weekend, and I just let my emotions get the best of me," he said.
Machado's frustrating weekend began Friday when he objected to a tag applied by A's third baseman Josh Donaldson. The two third sackers exchanged words, and both benches emptied before order was restored.
Machado said his anger at the tag had nothing to do with the fact he had offseason knee surgery.
"I just thought the tag was a little aggressive, they might have thought it wasn't," he said. "Looking back on it, we're just going to have to try to put that behind us."
Things got even uglier Sunday.
Oakland left-hander Fernando Abad threw inside to Machado in the eighth. The bat flew out of Machado's hands and went down the third base line. Both players exchanged words before the benches and bullpens emptied. Machado and Abad were ejected. Crew Chief Larry Vanover said Machado was ejected for throwing the bat and Abad was tossed for throwing at him a second time.
At the time, the O's were trailing 10-0.
After the game, Machado claimed he didn't let go of the bat on purpose. But in Monday's interview, he said he felt an apology was in order after looking at the replay.
Machado also expressed his regret that A's catcher Derek Norris had to leave the game in the sixth after taking a back swing to the head by Machado. Machado's actions were "a disgrace to the game," Norris said.
"I want to apologize to Derek, that wasn't intentional. I didn't realize how hard I had hit him with the bat; I have a tough follow-through ... I do want to apologize for taking him out of the game."
Donaldson's response Monday, per Scott Miller of CBSSports.com:
Josh Donaldson on Machado apology: "Words are words. You have to go prove something every day."
— Scott Miller (@ScottMillerBbl) June 9, 2014Major League Baseball is expected to announce a suspension for Machado on Tuesday. "We're just going to have to wait and see, and see what (MLB) comes up with," he said.
He added: "This is not the way we play baseball around here. We're just going to have to put this behind us and bring back the Oriole Way."