Manny Machado throws his bat, benches clear again
Manny Machado threw his helmet onto the field during the Baltimore Orioles and Oakland Athletics game on Sunday, resulting in benches clearing yet again. This marks the second time in three days that Machado has caused benches to clear.
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This time around, Machado took exception to a pitch that was thrown by Oakland reliever Fernando Abad and threw his bat at him on the next pitch. Thank goodness Machado has horrible aim though, as the bat went nowhere near Abad, making it only an assumption that’s who he was aiming for.
During the third inning of the game on Friday, Machado was on second base while Adam Jones grounded a ball to A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson. Machado and Donaldson came face to face in the base path resulting in Machado being tagged out while trying to backpedal and prevent the play. Machado fell to the ground, threw his helmet and apparently mumbled something under his breath which caused Donaldson to turn around. Arguing ensued and the benches and bullpens cleared resulting in everyone on the field.
"“Didn’t agree on the tag. Right play, he made the right play, but just didn’t agree on the tag that he made on me, and I just had to get up and confront him,” Machado said. “You get in the heat of the moment and things start flying. It’s part of the game, and you’re going to have to continue.”"
The play didn’t seem as if Donaldson shoved Machado or anything, but he obvious was upset about something. The two were easily separated and the game continued.
Machado is starting to polarize baseball fans as he is still one of the rising stars in the game today, but clearly needs to keep his temper in check or he runs the risk of ruining all the he has begun to build with the Orioles over the last few years.