The Orioles and Athletics are officially at war.
Rival third basemen Manny Machado and Josh Donaldson got into a war of words Friday after the Orioles star was aggressively tagged out, causing the benches to clear. It was not helped by the fact that Baltimore pitcher Wei-Yin Chen then threw at Josh Donaldson the next time he was at the plate.
After a day of calm seas, the storm whipped up again on Sunday when, with the Athletics up 10-0 in the eighth, reliever Fernando Abad threw a pitch that came way too close to Machado's surgically repaired knee.
MORE: MLB scoreboard
On the very next pitch, Machado swung late and released the bat into the field of play, sending it flying towards third base. It didn't take long for the benches to clear yet again.
Both Machado and Abad were ejected. It is understandable for a player like Machado to get upset at a pitcher for throwing at a surgically repaired body part. Machado is a franchise player and still working his way back from a serious knee injury.
It should also be pointed out that, on two different occasions earlier in the game, Machado hit Oakland catcher Derek Norris in the head with his back swing. Norris actually had to be removed from the game following the second shot.
Norris says batters typically offer a "You all right?" after backswings like that. Says he actually saw Machado smile at one point.
— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) June 8, 2014 Norris on Machado: "What he's doing, I think it's a disgrace to baseball."
— Jane Lee (@JaneMLB) June 8, 2014 But the real issue here is that retaliation in baseball is dangerous. Throwing a bat is never OK, but using a baseball as a weapon isn't either, and that's essentially what Abad did.
"The bat slipped out of my hands," Machado said after the game. "Trying to make contact and the umpire thought it was intentional and he tossed me at that point. The umpire thought it was intentional, so I guess at that point you've got to toss the pitcher and the hitter at the same time."
The Athletics won, 11-1. The Orioles allowed a season-high 11 walks in its most lopsided loss of the year.
Contributing: The Associated Press