Manny Machado wins this round of the Orioles-Red Sox beef
Manny Machado was booed heavily when he stepped to the plate for his first at-bat Monday night against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. This shouldn’t be a surprise, since he’s the man at the center of the recent beef between the Red Sox and his Baltimore Orioles.
But by the end of the night, Machado had won this round of the beef by TKO.
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Not only did the Orioles win the game 5-2, but Machado played insanely well in the first of four games in Boston after tempers flared two weekends ago in Baltimore. The whole ordeal started when Machado injured Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia with a rough slide into second base. Two days later, Red Sox reliever Matt Barnes threw a pitch at Machado’s head for which he would eventually be suspended four games.
Fans on both sides expected some fireworks when the two teams met again in Boston. And Red Sox fans took things too far off the field, but hurling racist haunts at O’s outfielder Adam Jones.
On the field, however, Machado showed everyone why he’s one of the best players in the game. Most notably is the homer at the top of the page, an absolute smash over the Green Monster. You’ll notice that Machado took a second to admire, then seemed to take his time with that home-run trot. Red Sox fans sure did, and responded with even more boos.
After the game, he didn’t admit to rubbing it in (“Nothing different,” he told the Baltimore Sun), but MLB’s Statcast data-tracking system says it was Machado’s second slowest trot since 2015. But, hey, if they throw at your head and then you hit it over their fence, you earned it.
.@statcast had Manny Machado's home run trot at 29.2 seconds… Since 2015 he's only had one slower trot than that.
— Daren Willman (@darenw) May 2, 2017
The bat wasn’t even Machado’s most impressive instrument Monday night. His defensive prowess was on full display too. Look at this grounder in the fifth inning that he sucked up like his glove were a vacuum cleaner.
O's defense on point tonight. #VoteOrange pic.twitter.com/mrnVbH8Qje
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) May 2, 2017
Then he sealed Baltimore’s win with this two-out diving catch in the bottom of the ninth inning. It’s a great play, but the type of thing he makes look ordinary at this point in his career.
How about that Manny Machado? #Orioles pic.twitter.com/a80WtTxm9k
— Orioles Savage (@OriolesSavage) May 2, 2017
Hey, Red Sox, maybe a better strategy would be not making Machado play with a chip on his shoulder.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz