In an unsettling development for Major League Baseball, there was more on-the-field tension at Fenway Park in Boston on Wednesday night, as well as a new disclosure of a fan’s use of a racial slur.
The tension stemmed from a growing feud between the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox that began last month in Baltimore when the Orioles’ Manny Machado injured Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox on a hard slide into second base. The Red Sox, in response, threw a pitch behind Machado’s head.
When the two teams played on Monday night in Boston, Orioles pitcher Dylan Bundy hit Mookie Betts with a pitch. On Tuesday, Boston’s Chris Sale threw another pitch behind Machado, prompting an angry tirade from Machado after the game.
That led to a conference call on Wednesday with the commissioner’s office in which both teams were told that enough was enough. Nevertheless, in the second inning on Wednesday, Baltimore starter Kevin Gausman was ejected for hitting Boston’s Xander Bogaerts.
The pitch appeared to be a curveball — not usually considered a knockdown pitch — and Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph slammed his mask on the plate in anger when he realized that Gausman had been ejected.
Three innings later, the Orioles’ Adam Jones was also ejected, for arguing a called strike. Jones created headlines earlier in the week when he told reporters that he had been subjected to racial taunts by fans at Fenway during Monday’s game.
That disclosure led to apologies by the management of the Red Sox, a standing ovation for Jones at Tuesday’s game and, on Wednesday, a statement from the Red Sox that a fan had been permanently barred from Fenway after being heard directing a racial slur toward another fan.
The team said that the incident had occurred during Tuesday’s game, that the fan had been escorted from the stadium and that the matter had been turned over to the Boston police to see if further action was warranted.
The Red Sox won Wednesday’s game, 4-2, their second win in the first three games of a series that has become significant both on and off the field.