TORONTO — Monday night’s benches-clearing melee between the Toronto Blue Jays and the New York Yankees seemed to come out of nowhere. The two teams had played a peaceful three games leading up to the finale, with the Blue Jays fighting for a playoff spot and the Yankees playing out their season. But suddenly, in the bottom of the second inning, fists were flying. And it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Earlier this month, after his Blue Jays were swept in a three-game series in the Bronx, Josh Donaldson made his teammates aware that he felt Yankees pitchers were taking liberties with him when it comes to pitching inside. Donaldson, who crowds the plate at times as many power hitters do, didn’t go so far as to demand retribution. But he did make his clubhouse aware of what he felt was happening.
So, when Donaldson took a 97-mph fastball off the elbow from Luis Severino in the first inning Monday, what followed was practically inevitable. Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ threw twice at the next New York batter he saw, Chase Headley, hitting the third baseman on the left buttock with his second attempt. That cleared the benches, with most players simply idling on the field with the exception of Donaldson and Yankees starter CC Sabathia, who yelled at each other through the crowd.
New York chose to retaliate to the retaliation as Severino took the mound in the bottom of the second and threw twice at Justin Smoak, catching the Blue Jays first baseman with a 99-mph fastball in the left calf that really set things off. The ensuing melee took several minutes to calm down, with Donaldson right in the middle of it, jawing with Sabathia once again. This was more than simply a spontaneous situation that escalated quickly.
“I think it goes a little deeper than that. Josh felt like these guys were throwing up and in at him a lot last time we were in New York. To the point where he brought it to our attention,” Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar said. “And, look, Severino didn’t have great control (Monday). He probably didn’t hit Josh on purpose. But this is how the game is sometimes. You hit a guy, especially one of our superstars, and somebody’s going to pay for it.”
According to MLB Statcast data, the Blue Jays have seen the second-most pitches up and in to right-handed batters of any team this season. Donaldson has seen more pitches in that location than any other Blue Jay, and the 196 times he’s been pitched up and in rank ninth in baseball. Asked after the game if he thought the Yankees have thrown him an extraordinary amount of high and inside pitches this year, Donaldson answered ambiguously.
“Do you see that?” Donaldson said. “Well, if you see that, then I don’t know. I think a lot of guys do that. That’s just part of it. I don’t know what their agenda is. I can’t speak for the other team. I can’t speak for what they’re doing. I know the guy’s throwing 100 and it’s not good when balls are coming at you.
“I don’t even know what the (unwritten) baseball rules are anymore. Who does?” Donaldson added. “I think people just go and do whatever they want to do.”
Looking back on Toronto’s three-game set in New York earlier this month does lend some evidence to the theory. The series opener on September 5 was relatively mild. Masahiro Tanaka pitched up and in to Donaldson twice over three plate appearances, but the reigning MVP didn’t seem to take exception to the pitches.
But the next night, the first pitch Donaldson saw from Yankees starter Luis Cessa flew up and in near his neck. Later in the game, Donaldson had to jump back in the batter’s box to avoid being hit by a 1-2 Cessa fastball and glared out at the Yankees right-hander afterwards. In his very next at-bat, Donaldson hit the dirt when a 93-mph Adam Warren fastball buzzed up and in past his head.
In the series finale, Bryan Mitchell started Donaldson’s night with a curveball that careened high and inside. Later in the game, Severino came up and in with a 96-mph fastball.
That brings us to this week’s series between the two teams in Toronto. Over five plate appearances in Friday night’s opener, Donaldson saw a pair of pitches up and in along with two more that buzzed past his knees. In Sunday’s game, Dellin Betances pitched inside twice to Donaldson with pitches that hit triple digits.
And then there was Monday, when Severino—who did not have great control on the night—hit Donaldson with that 97-mph fastball in a 1-1 count. Before the pitch, cameras caught Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez taking a pair of glances at Donaldson, who was set up towards the innermost part of the batter’s box. Sanchez then extended his index finger into his left thigh, pointing it directly at Donaldson instead of down towards the dirt, which is generally a call for an inside fastball. Sanchez certainly wasn’t caught off guard by the pitch’s location, as he set up so far inside that he was able to catch the ball after it hit Donaldson’s elbow guard.
“You know what, some teams have been taking pot shots at us all year long. Maybe some guys just got tired of it. I think that’s what happened,” Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. “Not just the Yankees. There are a lot of teams that have been trying to pound us in. And balls get away. You know, Josh got hit in the face earlier this year. And there have been a couple other close calls. I think it almost happened at Yankee Stadium the last time we were there. Teams do pitch us in. But it can be dangerous.”
Donaldson has been hit by a pitch eight times this season, which isn’t particularly exceptional—38 major leaguers have been hit by pitches eight times or more in 2016. But Donaldson has been knocked down frequently by aggressive inside fastballs.
In Minneapolis this May, Donaldson was targeted twice by Phil Hughes, a pitcher with remarkable control who put one pitch inches from Donaldson’s hip and another behind him. After the game, Donaldson said “Major League Baseball has to do something about this” and that Hughes was “putting my job in jeopardy.” Donaldson was also hit in the face by an 87-mph Kelvin Herrera change-up this August.
Of course, one of the best ways for a pitcher to attack a dangerous hitter like Donaldson is to command the inside half of the plate and not let the batter get comfortable. A certain number of inside pitches have to be expected. But there’s a fine line between the expected and the exceptional.
“I’m never going to tell a pitcher not to throw inside on me or any of my other teammates. I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with that,” Pillar said. “I think that’s how you have to get some of these power hitters out. You have to make them feel uncomfortable. And there’s really no other way to do it except to move their feet. That’s been going on since the beginning of time. But when a guy feels like it’s continuous, or maybe intentional, that’s when we feel like we have to police ourselves and do something about it.
“Ideally, you’d like to see our guy do it on the first try,” Pillar added of Happ’s attempts to plunk Headley. “But we did it the right way. No one threw up. He kept the ball down. Even though (Happ) missed the first time, he hit him down. And at that point it should have been over.”
Of course, it wasn’t. Smoak got hit, the benches emptied, and several players came away wounded, including Blue Jays Joaquin Benoit and Devon Travis who could both miss extended time, and Yankees outfielder Tyler Austin who ran into a fired-up Smoak at the wrong time and ate an uppercut that left an abrasion under his right eye.
The Blue Jays and Yankees won’t play each other again until 2017. It’s possible that this unpleasantness will be long forgotten by then. But it’s also possible that Donaldson will continue to see what he and his teammates deem to be an unnecessary amount of pitches up and in. And who’s to say what will happen then.
“With a lot of good hitters, one spot that you have to go to is up and in. And I definitely feel like we do get pitched up and in a lot. But do I feel like we get pitched up and in more than everybody else? I don’t know. I don’t watch everybody else play the game,” said Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin. “But that’s just kind of the unwritten rules of baseball. You hit one of our guys, our MVP guy, after then sometimes the ball slips out of the pitcher’s hand, and for some reason it’s even. That’s kind of how the game goes.”
