ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Baseball’s unwritten rules are perhaps at their murkiest when it comes to retaliation for hit batters. Once emotion enters the equation, assigning blame becomes that much harder.
Realizing that the potential for hard feelings existed in the aftermath of some tense early season moments with Steven Souza Jr., Joe Biagini hoped to clear the air with the Rays right-fielder. On Friday afternoon at Tropicana Field, Biagini got that opportunity, chatting amicably with Souza for a few minutes by the third-base dugout.
Biagini’s message: the fastball that hit the back of Souza’s left hand on April 29 was unintentional.
“I wanted to make sure that he knew that it obviously wasn’t on purpose,” Biagini said. “I think it was pretty clear anyway, but I’ve heard he’s a good guy and wanted to make sure he knew that I felt bad about that and that I wasn’t doing it on purpose.”
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Souza responded by telling Biagini that he could tell that the pitch was unintentional. That sentiment may not be shared with all of Souza’s teammates, as Chris Archer threw behind Jose Bautista the following afternoon in an apparent retaliation. Signs of tension between the two teams had emerged earlier in the year, when Troy Tulowitzki took issue with a hard Souza slide into second base.
Either way, Biagini wanted to make sure that he and Souza are on good terms.
“I’m sure that he was upset, and he should have been,” Biagini said. “I would be if I was him. Sometimes you want to make sure that it isn’t taken the wrong way on both sides. It’s not really his obligation to do that. It’s more mine, because I’m the one that hit him.”
As the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles are showing with their ongoing feud, it doesn’t take much for incidents like this to snowball unnecessarily. The conversation between Biagini and Souza could play a role in ensuring that doesn’t happen between these AL East rivals.
“I was grateful that he was real good about it,” Biagini said.
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SWING AND MISS STUFF
Marco Estrada isn’t exactly known as a strikeout pitcher, but he has had no trouble missing bats early this year.
The right-hander now has 87 swinging strikes on the season, which puts him in the top 10 among all MLB pitchers. While many of those misses come on his signature change-up, he’s throwing a little harder this year, and has been using his fastball to keep opponents off-balance.
“He can dominate good hitters in his own way,” manager John Gibbons said. “He can get some strikeouts. He can throw that fastball, which has actually been a little harder this year, too. He throws it up in the zone, it looks good to guys, and he can throw it right by them, because guys are vulnerable to high pitches.”
Estrada’s generating swings and misses on 12.3 per cent of pitches, a career high, and it’s translating to a strikeout rate of 9.4 K/9, his best ever as a starter.
NOTES
• Biagini will pitch from the stretch when he makes his first MLB start Sunday. Though most starters work from a full windup, Biagini has pitched out of the bullpen for two seasons, so he’s more comfortable from the stretch.
• The Blue Jays continue struggling at the plate, but Josh Donaldson has noticed some encouraging signs. “I’ve been seeing a lot more positive things coming from our lineup,” he said. “I feel like Justin Smoak’s swinging the bat really well. (Kevin) Pillar’s doing a good job of getting on base and driving the ball. (Ryan) Goins has done a really nice job at the plate, he just hasn’t really had much to show for it. Dev(on Travis), too.”
• Best OPS on the Blue Jays after 30 games? Just as everyone predicted, Kevin Pillar‘s hitting .304/.346/.488.
