He said that he hasn’t been watching TV or looking at newspapers or social media in the aftermath of a brawl with the Toronto Blue Jays that has consumed MLB Network and ESPN. On Monday, Pillar said he felt Odor’s punch was out of line.
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Odor’s frustration with the slide was well-founded considering the injuries we’ve seen on such plays.
It got out of hand in a matter of seconds. “It’s part of the game”. “I respect (Bautista). He plays hard”. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred responded by saying “our younger players taking control of the definition of those unwritten rules is a lot better than some guy who’s 67 years saying I did it that way and you do it the same way”. I was like, ‘What’s up?’ He was close to me. I think you guys (reporters) are being a little one-sided on the view. “But also we see what happens”.
“I think you saw what happened yesterday”, Odor said Monday. And one thing can’t be argued, that fight, and particularly that punch, was something you rarely see in a game where fights usually feature nothing but a lot of chest bowing and yelling back and forth at each other.
When Prince Fielder was hit by a pitch in the bottom half of the inning, the benches emptied again.
Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor throws to first after forcing out Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Michael Saunders at second base in the sixth inning at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas. Bautista hopped up with his chest out. No, Odor chose to escalate this battle, stepping to Bautista, shoving him and punching him.
“It’s an emotionally charged game”.
Bautista, Odor, Toronto third baseman Josh Donaldson and Texas bench coach Steve Buechele were ejected after the incident.
Upon hammering a no-doubter of a three-run homer that snapped a 3-3 tie and paved the way for Toronto’s 6-3 victory in Game 5 of last year’s ALDS at a raucous Rogers Centre, Bautista admired the blow before emphatically flipping his bat away. After hitting the home run, Bautista stood in the batter’s box and emphatically flipped his bat as he began jogging the bases.
“I’m not going to criticize players for playing hard”, he said. “There’s no swaying of opinions now”. “Things happen. It was ugly”. They beat us. Quite frankly, Bautista beat us.
Enough has already been said about the two players in the middle of the frenzied fist fight.
“That’s not my job”.
“To me it was gutless”, Gibbons said.
“I know I am going to be suspended for a couple of games, but I am going to keep doing what I’m doing”.
Proceeds for both the “For Rougned Odor…” campaign and the punch T-shirts could go to charity. A suspended player can’t be replaced on the 25-man roster, so the Rangers are nearly certain to option a reliever to the minors to create a spot for a position player. Rua has experience from the minor leagues at second base and could become a backup to Alberto. Center fielder Ian Desmond was a shortstop until this season and could play there if Elvis Andrus needs time off.
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The game was the final one of the regular season between the two teams, who had played each other six times before that. “Right now, I’m not going to go into talking about anything like that because there’s nothing to talk about yet”.
