Enter former Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon two innings later who came into the game with his team still trailing. Later in the at-bat, he drills Machado in the left shoulder.
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Again, the belief was that Machado may have held his pose at home plate for a bit longer than he needed to do. This time, it was to Manny Machado, and the Orioles slugger gave his team a 4-3 lead. The benches were not warned.
His worst performance since returning came last Thursday when he surrendered six runs and eight hits in a 6-4 loss at Miami, though Roark said it was an effort he could “build off”. However there was little doubt that Papelbon hit Machado intentionally. O’s manager Buck Showalter is an old school “you hit one of my guys, I’ll hit one of yours” type and Harper’s the obvious target for a retaliation plunking.
With the Orioles leading 4-3, Papelbon’s first pitch to Machado was up and in. Papelbon also said he doesn’t know what Machado thinks of what he did. Apparently Papelbon was the only person in the park who didn’t think so, as he and manager Matt Williams vehemently protested his ejection. “I don’t know if they have to give me a reason or not”.
Bryce Harper: “Manny freakin hit a homer, walked it off and somebody drilled him”.
“All I can tell you is I’m trying to go out there and pitch and do my thing out there, and that’s all that really matters, ” he said.
Machado was certainly not a fan of Papelbon’s friendly gesture.
“It’s just bull****”, Machado said. I mean, it’s pretty exhausted. I mean, once, and then he throws a curveball to kind of (inaudible) the mood, then throws up at the head.
“It’s something that’s uncalled for”, he said.
“It’s something that you don’t do”. I expect more from a guy like that with the (accomplishments) that he has.
Despite the late inning antics, a baseball game happened to be played in D.C. tonight. If you can’t take the heat, just stay out of the kitchen and just go on from it. You don’t throw at somebody’s head. “If he thinks I did, that’s what he thinks”. “Whether they want to get somebody tomorrow, that’s up to them”.
Papelbon was ejected in the ninth after he hit Machado in the arm with a fastball. “He always had time for me”, said Showalter, the Yankees’ manager from 1992 to 1995.
“That’s where I usually get a lot of swings and misses”. He was on the mound for the infamous “Curse of the Andino” game in which the Red Sox were dramatically eliminated from postseason consideration in the last game of the 2011 season by an Orioles team with nothing else to play for. There wasn’t much to think of it, especially after Papelbon dropped in an 0-1 curveball the very next pitch. Machado repeated the question. I’m going up there making good swings.
“He was never coming out of the game anyway”, Williams said, “and it makes for a good story and it makes for people talking about it, but there was never any intention of him coming out of the game anyway”. I’ll take the hits.
“There’s no reason for it”, Orioles starter Chris Tillman said of a pitch up and in to Machado. It’s coward stuff. It’s just cowardly.
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Anthony Rendon eventually sent a sacrifice fly into right field, giving the Nationals the 3-2 lead.
